Grand Rapids' stormwater management means cleaner rivers, cleaner Great Lakes

An article in Grand Rapids Magazine highlights West Michigan's efforts to minimize, clean up and naturally filter stormwater runoff to lessen the pollutants carried into our streams, rivers and the Great Lakes.

According to excerpts from the story:

Would you want to swim in a pool contaminated with litter, pet waste, pesticides, grass clippings, oil and dirt? Probably not.

The goal of the Community Stormwater Planning Initiative is to provide community-based solutions to manage rainwater where it falls.

At the community level, Grand Rapids adopted a revised stormwater management ordinance that emphasizes the use of low-impact development best management practices to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff for new development projects. Furthermore, Grand Rapids has implemented stormwater runoff management techniques at Joe Taylor Park in the Baxter neighborhood. If the first one to two inches of rain that falls on a development is contained or slowed, the goal of keeping stormwater farther up the watershed is achieved.

Read the complete story here.