Can you believe it? This could not happen in NYC. The full speech is here in this pdf – EPA Administrator Emphasizes Green Infrastructure in Milwaukee Speech
Check out this excerpt:
“…………………..One of the most prevalent and fasted growing challenges is dealing with storm water runoff which carries chemicals and other debris into local waters and can damage whole stream ecosystems. Right now the conventional regulatory fixes for storm water are to store it and to treat it just like it’s wastewater, which can be very costly to cities and towns on a budget. Milwaukee has been through these costly challenges recently with the wet weather and storms that have passed through lately,” Jackson says.
Jackson says if money were not an issue, separate sanitary and stormwater systems could be a fix, but says it’s a remedy most communities can’t afford.
The administrator says it’s going to take collaborative innovation to solve the problem. Jackson pledged to weave green infrastructure policy into EPA regulations.
“Ways to use our regulatory and policy making heft, if you will, to encourage the kind of things that are already happening in places like Milwaukee,” Jackson says.
She’s talking about incorporating rain gardens, green roofs and other measures that capture and filter rain water naturally. Jackson calls it working with nature, rather than against it.
She sees green infrastructure as a tool to help clean up old contaminated sites. Jackson says her agency will back up the green talk, with money.
“Funding for states and territories and tribes to mitigate nonpoint source pollution through green infrastructure,” Jackson says.
She calls this a new era of clean water protection.
Read the whole article or listen to it:
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=6641#share