Grounded GSI: A-42 - Grounded Strategies

The Grounded Strategies Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Project uses green solutions to address pressing stormwater issues and community needs. We seek to understand the types of GSI features desired in communities and how they can be used to create creative community spaces while reducing stormwater runoff. The goal of the GSI project is to reduce the number of combined sewer overflows occurring while also achieving community co-benefits. This is achieved by using green solutions to capture stormwater while creating valuable community green spaces for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about the Grounded GSI project, please read our Project Overview.

A-42 Sewershed

The A-42 Sewershed covers the project neighborhoods of Homewood, East Hills, East Liberty, Larimer, and Lincoln Lemington Belmar. Identified as a priority contributor to the CSO problem, Grounded will focus its education, outreach, and demonstration projects in these five communities.

A-42 GSI Neighborhood Liaisons

Grounded recruited five GSI Liaisons to serve as the first line of engagement around sustainable stormwater management in their communities. Liaisons underwent a 5-week training on the fundamentals of GSI, and meet monthly to discuss how to best create community stormwater champions through outreach and education. Liaisons also implement the Community Stormwater Survey through a variety of means, including tabling, canvassing, and mailers.

Community Stormwater Survey

Grounded Strategies GSI Liaisons spent the fall and winter of 2017 implementing a Community Stormwater Survey. Respondents were asked to share their favorite open spaces, locations and discriptions stormwater management problems in their communities, and finally, ideas about the types of greenspaces needed in their communities. Data collected will be overlayed with PWSA priority areas in an effort to identify overlaps between reported stormwater liabilities and opportunities to increase a community’s open space portfolio. A-42 Liaisons collected a combined total of 362 surveys. Summarized results are presented below.

Community Stormwater Roundtables

In order to help residents address the negative effects of stormwater runoff on their property, Grounded is hosting a series of GSI community resource roundtables where interested and concerned residents can meet face to face with stormwater experts and home improvement resource providers in an informal setting. We help identify and provide resource providers and informational materials that will help residents address the side effects of stormwater mismanagement (wet basement/mold/flooding/etc.)