Flooding and severe storms are
one of the biggest worries for
municipalities throughout the
U.S. as they prepare for the
effects of climate change.
In Detroit, getting ready for
changing weather patterns has
prompted a creative, new way to
use the city's vacant lots left
from demolished homes.
This segment is part of an
ongoing public-media reporting
initiative called
"Peril and Promise," telling the
human stories and solutions of
climate change.
>> Across the country, cities
are tasked with managing
rainwater that falls on
impenetrable surfaces -- a
problem that's getting worse
due to the effects of climate
change.
The Clean Water Act mandates
that municipalities keep runoff
clean and manage overflows.
In older cities in the
Great Lakes Basin, like Detroit,
this is a serious challenge.
>> The strength of the storms is
definitely different.
What that means is that there's
more precipitation falling in a
shorter amount of time.
>> In August of 2014, a storm
dropped 5 1/2 inches of rainfall
on Detroit, and the sewers
discharged 10 billion gallons of
overflows into local rivers and
streams, as well as the
basements of Detroiters.
>> My basement, a couple years
ago, had like 8 inches of
standing water in it after one
particular storm.
>> I saw some pretty -- I'm
talking about critical
situations where people done
work hard, where they property
just got damaged during the
floods.
>> Over the last 20 years,
Detroiters invested over
$1 billion to mitigate 95% of
overflow.
To account for the last 5%, the
city turned to green
infrastructure.
>> The Urban Waterfront compared
with the River State Park,
each of them shown in phases.
>> Joan Nassauer, professor of
landscape architecture at the
University of Michigan, thought
up a unique solution.
>> A bioretention garden is a
form of green infrastructure.
Each of the bioretention gardens
can hold up to 300,000 gallons
of water.
Detroit had a very large number
of vacant properties that I
could hardly get my mind around.
It was so clear to me that there
was enormous potential for
managing stormwater if these
vacant properties in Detroit
could be used in the right way.
We said, "What would happen if
we filled those basement
excavations, as part of
demolition, with a highly porous
material?
>> Researchers chose
Northwest Detroit to host the
bioretention gardens.
>> The minute I found out what
its purpose was, I was all in.
I mean, there is nothing more
important than making sure that
families are safe, because
there's a lot of bacteria that
got into everybody's basements.
We were one of those people that
had 3 foot of sewage in our
basement.
>> There's health decisions to
be made around stormwater
management, in terms of the
spread of infectious disease.
And so public health kind of
gets left off sometimes.
In 2015, we completed our first
survey around the sites, about
800 square feet.
>> They asked us how would we
feel about a garden getting put
across the street, and we told
them it would be a lovely idea,
because it was just naked.
They gave the field life.
>> Since we put the garden in,
we actually have children that
play out there now, riding their
bikes.
We have people walking by the
garden now.
People are getting back out into
the community.
They're not tied in their house
anymore, with their blinds
pulled.
They're actually opening their
blinds and enjoying life again.
>> And we want neighborhoods in
Detroit to be beautiful places
to live.
But there's another reason
that's more of a tactic for
sustainability as it relates to
water quality.
If you pair an ecological
benefit, like being able to hold
stormwater, with beauty on the
surface, then the ecological
benefit is more likely to be
sustained over time.
>> In addition to the
bioretention gardens, the city
of Detroit is investing
in a multitude of
green-infrastructure projects.
>> We know that climate change
is already happening.
Since 1951 to 2015, we've seen
a 4.5% increase in total annual
precipitation across the state
of Michigan.
When you're maybe economically
insecure, and your basement
floods several times a year,
that can be a really stressful
situation, and so this green
infrastructure might be one
strategy to take the burden off
of residents who are
experiencing that.
