Many communities experience challenges with urban flooding and stormwater management. For years, cities have been designed to act as funnels to convey water quickly, which causes downstream pollution and long-term health and safety concerns. However, these cities are revising their stormwater management guidelines to directly address these issues. These updates outline a set of best management practices for more flexibility, referred to as Green Infrastructure (GI). GI is a cost-effective approach to managing stormwater runoff by treating it as a resource rather than a disturbance, and can include developing bioretention areas, enhanced swales, permeable pavers and pervious concrete that slow down the flow of stormwater and allow it to be more successfully infiltrated into the ground. GI must be designed, installed and maintained correctly to avoid repairs or reinstallation.

Southface is offering this Operations and Maintenance training as the next in series of our Green Infrastructure Resilience Institute (GIRI) trainings. One of the barriers to long-term GI/LID is a lack of knowledge about how to ensure that GI structures function well for years to come. This course will help students know how to identify and solve issues surrounding poor maintenance of GI practices as well as to avoid GI failures entirely.