New Green Infrastructure Toolkit for Municipalities

New Jersey Future launched a new, interactive digital toolkit to help municipalities across the state incorporate green infrastructure projects into their communities. The New Jersey Green Infrastructure Municipal Toolkit will provide expert information on planning, implementing, and sustaining green infrastructure to manage stormwater. The toolkit acts as a one-stop-resource for community leaders who want to sustainably manage stormwater, reduce localized flooding, and improve water quality.

According to the USEPA, a significant amount of rivers, lakes, ponds, bays, and estuaries in New Jersey fall into the “Impaired Waters” category, meaning that one or more of their uses are not being met. This reality makes green infrastructure more important than ever in the effort to protect our waterways.

When it rains, stormwater creates runoff, which often carries pollution to various types of waterbodies. Green stormwater infrastructure helps to absorb and filter rainwater, reducing the pollution entering our waterways and mitigating flooding in our communities. In urban areas, green infrastructure utilizes natural vegetation to divert stormwater, creating a cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing way to manage water during rain events.

“We designed this toolkit to bring to light the benefits and importance of investing in green infrastructure at the local level,” said Dr. Stephen Souza, co-founder of Princeton Hydro. “Because New Jersey’s current stormwater rules do not require green infrastructure, we hope to inspire municipal engineers and planning board members to believe in the value through our toolkit. Additionally, we hope it will serve as an educational resource to local officials and decision makers in the Garden State.”

For this project, Princeton Hydro was contracted by Clarke Caton Hintz, an architecture, design, and planning firm, leading this effort on behalf of the nonprofit organization New Jersey Future. Our expert engineers and scientists provided real-world examples integrating green infrastructure into development, in hopes of showing those using the toolkit real world evidence of how green infrastructure can be a part of the daily lexicon of stormwater management. Additionally, Dr. Stephen Souza developed performance standards that municipalities can integrate into stormwater management plans, which are available in the Green Infrastructure Municipal Toolkit.

To learn more about green infrastructure stormwater management, click here.

• Engineering
• Environmental Services
• Flood Mitigation
• Stormwater Management