In this edition of Going Green, Terry Ettinger looks at a class in managing stormwater runoff. More specifically, a professional development course for design engineers and landscape architects.

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This is a class in managing stormwater runoff. More specifically, it’s a professional development course for design engineers and landscape architects.

Kathleen Bertuch, CNY Regional Planning and Develoment Board said, “And we are looking at ways that green infrastructure practices can be used to control stormwater runoff and to treat stormwater runoff that can be incorporated into construction and redevelopment project designs.”

Municipalities across the country are required to control the discharge of stormwater runoff into surface water like streams and lakes because uncontrolled or untreated rainfall and snowmelt causes problems.

Bertuch said, “Anything that falls onto the ground whether it’s fertilizer or motor oil, pet waste, and even dust and dirt or metals, it gets washed into the separate storm sewer systems, roadside ditches, culverts and then with rain and melting snow they get transported into the surface waters without any benefit of treatment. The bad result is sedimentation in riverbeds, we can also get algae blooms from fertilizer and nutrients that get washed in which results in habitat loss and destruction of fish and wildlife habitat.”

New York’s Design Manual issued by the Department of Environmental Conservation identifies a number of green infrastructure practices such as rain gardens in parking lots and on rooftops that can slow or divert water runoff. There’s also a technique called bio-infiltration.

Kathleen Bertuch, CNY Regional Planning and Develoment Board said, “In areas where the soil has been compacted (water) runs off instead of seeping into the soil. When you infiltrate water you provide a means for the water to get back into the ground so that some of the pollutants can be filtered through the soil and you don’t have those large runoff events.”

Another technique involves using porous paving for parking lots so instead of runoff, the water runs through and into the ground.

For more information visit www.dec.ny.gov.