Blue/Green Stormwater Infrastructure

“Blue-green” stormwater infrastructure (BGSI) combines water quality and community enriching benefits of “green” infrastructure coupled with the flood reduction and climate resiliency benefits of “blue” infrastructure. Green stormwater infrastructure typically treats and reduces smaller, more frequent stormwater flows, and blue stormwater infrastructure temporarily stores larger volumes of stormwater without significant reliance on vegetation. BGSI encompasses both types of infrastructure and often includes such innovative, “floodable” systems such as “floodable parks”, “wet plazas”, and “retention boulevards” that can collectively provide a range of both stormwater-related benefits and other community benefits. In this presentation, designers from Jacobs will provide an overview of BGSI practices and strategies, planning and design considerations, how public spaces might be transformed into dual-purpose (“floodable”) stormwater management opportunities, cost implications, and the role of both dynamic (continuous) design and automated (“real-time”) controls.