Green Drainage

Summary

Coastal plains often have little topography to allow water to flow to outfalls. Green streets provide places for water to infiltrate into the earth, or provide capacity for safe detention until evaporation or transpiration can occur. Bioswales, subsurface storage modules, permeable streets and parking areas, tree planting in bio-retention cells, and vegetated street basins contribute places for runoff to recharge the groundwater aquifer, and reduce flooding from stormwater. The planted areas also reduce the heat island effect in urban centers, increasingly critical as temperatures rise.