BRISTOL, R.I.__ Governor Gina Raimondo pleased environmentalists around the state on Earth Day when she announced 23 new projects, many of which are designed to reduce the amount of storm water runoff that ends up in the states many bodies of water.
Most of the 23 projects also utilize a more environmentally friendly approach than in the past, opting to use trees and wetlands as the main tools. Known as green infrastructure, this system will provide many advantages including an extremely long life span. Rhode Island will receive $3.3 million in state and federal funding to help with the 23 storm water projects.
Betsy Dake, the senior environmental planner with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, told The Providence Journal about the plans.
“We’re dealing with stormwater by putting it in the ground,” said Dake, “We’re imitating nature.”
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza also expressed his support of the projects, having acknowledged the problem with storm water runoff in the past.
One of the projects will see the city of Providence working with StormTree, a local business which creates green stormwater filtration systems. The design is based on an open grate, which catches storm water and stores it, allowing the tree to drink it but also cleansing or de-polluting the water in the process. This project will be taking place in the Pleasant Valley Stream watershed.
At the announcement of the projects, in Roger Williams Park, Governor Raimondo explained the numerous benefits to the green infrastructure approach to the problem of stormwater pollution.
“These stormwater improvement projects will preserve our rivers and bays, but at the same time they will put people to work, which is what we need to do here in Rhode Island,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo should have made many people happy with her Earth Day announcement. Not only is she taking a green approach to a problem in Rhode Island, but she is creating jobs in the process. These projects should yield positive results relatively quickly, and offer long-term solutions to the pollution of bodies of water through storm runoff.
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