American Rivers | The River Blog

Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water

Green Infrastructure Can Save Local Governments Money

April 16, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage

With increasing urbanization comes an increasing area of rooftops, parking lots, and highways - hard surfaces that are impermeable to water. Rain that once soaked into fields and forests, now runs off these hardened surfaces in excessive amounts. This runoff flows untreated into storm drains and local waterways, carrying a variety of pollutants that foul our waters and cause health risks. The volume of runoff can be so high that it erodes stream banks and causes localized flooding.

Green in the Bank – Releasing a New Report on Green Infrastructure Today

Jeffrey Odefey, Director, Stormwater Program
April 12, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage, Climate Change

Stormwater. Urban runoff. The puddles and streams in the gutter that flow into storm drains and neighborhood creeks every time it rains. For many of us, it’s a problem that escapes our attention, but it’s a significant source of water pollution that makes beaches, lakes and rivers unsafe to swim or fish in, contributes to sewer overflows and neighborhood flooding, and plagues local environments. These impacts have real costs: dollars and cents lost to management plans that don’t really address the problem, recreational businesses that suffer, and the costs to repair flooded homes and streets. Reducing runoff through green infrastructure can reduce these costs, and provide other valuable benefits.

A Vision Of Green Roofs In Durham, NC

Peter Raabe, North Carolina Conservation Director
April 5, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage

North Carolina has a stormwater problem. It is a great place to live and because of that a lot of people have moved here creating a lot of development. That development happened with very little regard for water quality. Many of the rivers are polluted due to pollution carried in stormwater that runs off the developed lands.

Green Infrastructure to Alleviate Flooding

April 4, 2012 | Water Pollution, Floods & Floodplains, Stormwater & Sewage

American Rivers recently completed retrofitting over 12 acres of impervious surface in the Wilson Park Creek Subwatershed.

Green to Go Green for Clean Water in the Chesapeake

Liz G. Deardorff, Director, Clean Water Program Pennsylvania
March 22, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage, Floods & Floodplains

My office sits near the bank of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania, so it was a treat to leave the office several days ago to travel downstream to where this 464 mile long river flows into the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland. I was there to attend an announcement of $4 million in new federal funding for local governments to use for green infrastructure, like green roofs, parks, and green streets, for cleaner water to help meet pollution reduction goals.

Putting People to Work, the Green Infrastructure Way

Jeffrey Odefey, Director, Stormwater Program
March 9, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage

As river advocates, we tend to talk a lot about polluted stormwater runoff, and the need to reduce pollution from our streets, parking lots and roofs that ends up in our rivers every time it rains. Building more green infrastructure, such as green roofs and rain gardens, is becoming a very promising approach to reducing runoff into our storm sewers and creeks and rivers, so we talk about that a lot too.

Are You Swimming in Sewage?

Katherine Baer, Senior Director, Clean Water and Water Supply Programs
February 28, 2012 | Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage, Water Supply

Do you enjoy splashing in your stream and swimming in your local lake? Does your dog jump into your local creek at every chance? You may think you know whether it’s safe to be in the water, but depending on where you live, there’s a good chance you have no idea.

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