NY Times: “A bioswale was installed alongside Ms. Chalk’s driveway, native species were planted, and clay in her backyard was replaced with absorbent soil.
During the next heavy downpour, Ms. Chalk looked outside. Storm water that previously had nowhere to go was seeping into the ground. She took photos and shared them with friends.
“What I saw at her home was a project that I had never witnessed before,” recalled one of the friends, Cheryl Austin, who works with a community organization, the Greater Treme Consortium. “I was so impressed.”
Word spread, and more of Ms. Chalk’s neighbors agreed to have rain barrels installed to catch runoff from roofs, and french drains, which are underground perforated pipes topped with gravel that filter and redirect heavy rain.
Today, green infrastructure projects on Ms. Chalk’s block can capture 8,800 gallons of rain per storm, and Water Wise has installed 150 projects in public and private spaces across low-lying neighborhoods. Altogether, they can retain 190,000 gallons of water per storm, mitigating local flooding.
“There are multiple benefits,” said Mr. Supak, whose group has also planted nearly 800 trees. “It’s about flood risk. It’s about water quality. It’s about green spaces in your neighborhood. It’s about the urban heat island effect, because we have so much concrete and we’re such a hot city. And it’s about beautification.”
Green infrastructure isn’t a cure-all for New Orleans’ flooding problems, but in a city where much of the land lies below sea level, it certainly helps.”