The popular song state that we “paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
While this practice has continued since the inception of modern buildings and cities, Shelley Alexander hopes to see the environmentally unfriendly practices we’ve used for a long time replaced with those that are not only more pleasing to the eye, but use the environment to control storm runoff.
Alexander, who is Santa Rosa County’s Environmental Project Coordinator, spent five years preparing to apply for a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that will bring needed changes to the area. Her efforts paid off, and the county will be receiving $499,075 from the EPA Gulf of Mexico division to help fund the research, engineering, and implementation of greener stormwater infrastructure practices.
“You have ‘gray infrastructure’ like concrete, asphalt, and storm drains that are designed to remove water from an area and dump it somewhere else; then you have ‘green infrastructure’ practices that utilize the surrounding landscape to improve stormwater treatment on site,” she said. “Impervious structures create a problem for someone else. Green methods allow for water to be treated and absorbed where it is deposited.”
Some of these methods will be utilized and showcased at the County Administration Complex on Caroline Street.
Pointing to the three islands in the parking lot where trees are struggling to survive and the edges are encased in concrete curbs, Shelly said: “These areas will be turned into bioswales and use tree wells. We’ll begin by removing the curbs, the struggling trees, and the poor soil. Then we’ll replace the soil and plant native trees within sunken wells that will allow each tree plenty of room to grow.
"These tree roots, along with native plants will then absorb the stormwater and treat it before it goes into our aquifers,” she added.
Other green infrastructure practices Shelley intends to showcase at the complex include turning the existing retention pond behind the building into a rain garden using native plants that like wet areas, and replacing the asphalt parking lot in the rear with pervious paving material.
“We’ve been in partnership with UF/IFAS Extension, who has designed an educational outreach program for Santa Rosians to learn about using green infrastructure to treat stormwater at their own homes,” Shelley said. "If everyone treated their own rainwater, we would have no stormwater runoff problems.”
The project is expected to take three years, and will begin next spring. The goal is to reduce pollutants in local bays and rivers.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County grant award aims to change gray to green