As part of its series of webinars on water research, EPA’s Office of Research and Development is hosting a free webinar, Green Infrastructure: Ecosystem Benefits and Applications, May 18, 2022, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET.

This webinar includes two presentations. For the first, EPA researchers, Michael Borst and Thomas O’Connor, will discuss their work monitoring Bioinfiltration – one form of green infrastructure that incorporates plants in water quality treatment that is of interest for its potential to retrofit existing urban surface drainage (curb and gutter) for both Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) and combined sewer systems. They will discuss two projects: one that is using embedded instrumentation to measure the water movement into, through, and out of a Bioinfiltration system, and another that is a long-term study monitoring Bioinfiltration planting media and plant growth.

Changes in population growth, urban development, and climate have increased the occurrence of stormwater related problems. While green infrastructure is often proposed as a tool to help manage stormwater in urban areas, other types of greenspace can serve the same function and should be included in stormwater management plans. In addition, research indicates that several other benefits and ecosystem services come from urban greenspace.

For the second presentation, EPA researcher, Matthew Hopton, will discuss a framework developed to leverage these social, economic, and environmental benefits of urban greenspace while managing stormwater. Using St. Louis, Missouri as a case study, this presentation will demonstrate how to apply the framework in a directed manner to provide benefits equitably to generally underserved communities.