Another round of significant stream flooding over the last few days again demonstrates the triple benefits of green infrastructure projects like Logan Park in Manheim Borough, Lancaster County.
Rife Run traverses a 20-acre area the Borough had developed previously into a park with athletic fields, but those fields were frequently out of use because of seasonal flooding and wet conditions due to legacy sediments that built up in the stream’s floodplain.
A floodplain restoration project completed in 2015 allowed the athletic fields to be re-established on the uplands created from excavated floodplain material.
The result is athletic fields that are higher, dryer, and more usable and a naturalized floodplain was established that adds beauty to the park and improves the function of the floodplain to mitigate stormwater runoff.
Wetlands were created and stormwater best management practices were introduced to improve water quality and meet regulatory mandates while providing an enhanced setting for trails and wildlife habitat.
During the rains this week, the restored floodplain and more natural realignment of the stream redirected stormwater and allowed it to spread out on the floodplain, not on the athletic fields or to damage nearby homes.
And once installed, green infrastructure like restored floodplains, forest buffers, infiltration areas and rain gardens become more effective because they are living things, growing practices, not cement and cinder block structures.
Click Here for more on the Logan Park Project.
The Future Is Green… Infrastructure
Communities and the state have started to rely more and more on green infrastructure for cheaper, more cost effective ways to deal with critical water pollution and flooding problems faced by the Commonwealth.
Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, as well as Lycoming, Monroe and York counties and groups of communities like in the Wyoming Valley have already turned to green infrastructure with its multiple benefits to meet water quality goals with a single investment.
Pennsylvania’s initiative to develop the state’s Phase III Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan covering half the state is focused on developing county by county list of green infrastructure policies and practices needed to fulfill the state’s Chesapeake Bay obligations.
To learn more about green infrastructure, read Meeting The Challenge Of Keeping Pennsylvania Clean, Green And Growing.
For more information on the Logan Park green infrastructure project and others, visit the LandStudies website or contact Laurel Etter Longenecker, 717-627-4440 or send email to: laurel@landstudies.com. Click Here to sign up for green infrastructure updates.
LandStudies is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) based in Lititz, Lancaster County. Follow LandStudies on Twitter, Like them on Facebook.
(Photo: The Logan Park green infrastructure project working as designed this week.)
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