Following the March 2020 workshop on Stormwater Planning in the Era of Climate Change, many municipalities expressed interest in applying downscaled precipitation projections to their own stormwater utilities. To begin to fulfill this need, Dr. Franco Montalto of Drexel University offered a course in summer 2020 for Drexel undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students (many of which were Drexel alumni) to work with interested municipalities in developing design storms for the future. The students worked with seven municipalities on the East Coast to address the following questions:
The class was written up in the EWRI Currents newsletter in 2020. The students presented their work to the municipalities and the public in the September 2020 CCRUN seminar. Their final reports to the municipalities can be found here:
Read more about the Stormwater Workshop
Watch the Adapting Stormwater Management seminar
GreenRoots
Location: Chelsea, Massachusetts
Website: www.greenrootschelsea.org
Project Title: Mitigating the Impacts of Heat Islands through Community-led, Nature-based Solutions
Project Description: Funding from the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast will help advance community resilience and improve environmental justice areas of concern through the following heat mitigation and air quality improvement strategies: 1. Greater green and open space: GreenRoots is transforming a vacant, urban parcel, 212 Congress Ave, into an urban oasis with trees, plantings, shade structures and hydration stations. Pre- and post- monitoring of the heat index and surveying with neighborhood residents of personal perception of heat will determine the use and benefits of this demonstration project. 2. Resident Engagement: GreenRoots staff will conduct multilingual community outreach to connect residents in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods to cooling solutions (ongoing). Engagement includes: door knocking, flyering, stand-outs in public areas, social media, other online strategies and in-person events in the vacant parcel. 3. Implement Cool Block Strategies: Collaborate with BSLA, BU School of Public Health and City of Chelsea on installation of Cool Block strategies including painting white roofs, temporary art and data visualizations, cooling structures and possible water features at 212 Congress.