Looking Up the Downspout: Green Infrastructure for Roof Runoff
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Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Ph.D. |
TEDxStevensInstituteofTechnology
• September 2018
Ever wonder what happens to runoff when it rains? Most of us take for granted that rain overflow simply diverts to the sewer system, but in actuality, it poses a significant problem. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are caused by urban stormwater runoff, but result in uncontrolled discharges of raw sewage into receiving waters surrounding urban centers across the globe. In other words, a water quantity problem causes a water quality impact. Rooftops contribute a large proportion of a city’s runoff-generating surfaces, but because they’re out of sight, they’re also out of mind. This talk will introduce you to several green infrastructure technologies specifically designed to tackle the unique engineering challenges of reducing rooftop runoff, and identify what we still need to learn to address this critical infrastructure issue.