Forgive my corny headline for a serious accomplishment: at my urging Portland adopted today the nation's first comprehensive greenstreet policy [0] (PDF).
Great, but what's a greenstreet [1]?
Our cars pollute various oils and other substances as they travel on our roads. The pollutants mix with rain and ultimately get flushed underground. The contaminated mix has to be actively treated, which is expensive. In some parts of town, our sewer pipes also take the stormwater and in really wet times the flow is so great the mix flows right into the river untreated.
Bad. And illegal.
Environmental groups sued the City of Portland to stop the untreated discharges. That's why we're spending $1.4 billion to build that Big Pipe you've heard about.
Ouch.
So we need to keep working the problem. The closer you can resolve a problem to its source the cheaper and more effective you will be. Enter "green" streets. Greenstreets are streets designed to clean the contaminated stormwater using plants and other natural sources right on the side of the road.
That little strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk? That can be designed with the right mix of plants to clean the stormwater. It's cheaper, prettier, and more effective than engineered solutions. That means it's totally cool, which is why-as of today-we now have a citywide policy to takes our award-winning pioneer greenstreet efforts to the next level. (Read what The Oregonian had to say about it today. [2]) Greenstreets are the presumed development for all new (or reconstructed) streets in Portland, except where it's technically impossible.
My next step to make greenstreets the new normal throughout Portland is to seek more support from our federal delegation. Last week, Congressman David Wu [3], who chairs the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation for the U.S. House Science Committee, and I toured two groundbreaking greenstreet developments [3] in town. Congressman Wu is well-versed in greenstreets and well-positioned to champion the cause at the federal level. I also invited the Environmental Protection Agency [3] to see how Portland is protecting water quality with green infrastructure.
Congratulations to Sustainable Stormwater Manager Linda Dobson who led the policy development effort and everybody on my teams at the Bureau of Environmental Services and Portland Office of Transportation, and thanks to the Water Bureau for helping us figure this out. It's another sustainable innovation for Portlanders to take pride in.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| City Council Green Streets Presentation [4] | 1012.86 KB |
| Final Green Streets Phase 2 Report [5] | 2.2 MB |