Near the Waters Edge; A Green Infrastructure Tour

A floodplain is the lowland area adjacent to a river, lake, creek or ocean. When floods occur water flows onto these nearby low-lying areas. When floodplains are preserved in their natural state, or restored to it, they provide many benefits to both human and natural systems.

Green infrastructure is a term for the natural vegetative systems and green technologies that collectively provide society with a multitude of economic, environmental and social benefits. They are also called natural assets, eco-assets or blue-green infrastructure. Most importantly green infrastructure sustainably manages our rainwater. Green infrastructure includes: urban forests, wetlands, bio-swales, engineered wetlands and storm water ponds, waterways and riparian areas, meadows and agricultural lands, green roofs and green walls, parks, gardens and grassed areas, it can also include technologies like porous pavements, rain barrels and cisterns. In a natural environment, rain is absorbed and filtered by pants and soils. In urban landscapes, this natural water cycle is disrupted and rainwater flows across pavement and rooftops. Traditional development alters natural systems to fit into engineered infrastructure and water is conveyed away as quickly as possible. This water picks up pollutants, speed, and volume as it runs across these impervious surfaces and into the nearest waterbody. This is not ideal for the local environment or its associated species. Green infrastructure brings nature into the City, to capture and clean our rainwater before returning it to the surround oceans and rivers. Green infrastructure requires a new decentralized, site-specific approach, and a reliance on a team with expertise beyond engineering. It will require clear community and political support or a change in provincial policy to move beyond the status quo.