New ‘green’ video can benefit Texas communities, others
AgriLife Extension video can be ‘GIFT’ to communities wanting to employ green infrastructure to manage stormwater
A new video from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service examines three case studies of green infrastructure best practices in the Houston area that can be applied at different scales in coastal and flood-prone areas of Texas and elsewhere.
The Green Infrastructure: a nature-based solution for stormwater video was produced as part of the Green Infrastructure for Texas, or GIFT, program. This program operates within the Texas Community Watershed Partners, or TCWP, program of AgriLife Extension which specializes in improving water quality and quantity through a series of living landscape features.
TCWP projects include rain gardens, floating wetlands and other low-impact design elements. The program also partners with stakeholders in communities to share expertise and collect beneficial information through dialogue, discovery workshops, town hall meetings, forums and volunteer programs.
“The featured nature-based solutions are in coastal counties but can be used anywhere within Texas and beyond to mitigate flooding and improve water quality,” said Charriss York, program specialist in AgriLife Extension’s Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences.
York said practices discussed in the case studies have been shown to be effective in reducing runoff volume as well as common water pollutants such as bacteria, total suspended solids, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
“These practices can be used at any scale from an individual home or business to a neighborhood or community and all the way up to a multiple-acre habitat restoration project,” she said. “The video examines and explains practices that can work at each scale.”
York said community-level planning for green infrastructure practices should integrate green solutions with traditional gray infrastructure to meet the needs of each community.
“Leaders should also consider solutions at every level,” she said. “And that can range from a single rain garden to a large stormwater treatment wetland.”
Find more information about green infrastructure practices, go to https://agrilife.org/gift.
This project is funded by a Texas Coastal Management Program grant approved by the Texas Land Commissioner pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration award No. NA18NOS4190153.
