B1 - Green Infrastructure Master Implementation Plan: A Look at Indianapolis

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Ted Blahnik, P.E.
Williams Creek Consulting

Abstract

This presentation will look at how a city can utilize Green Infrastructure (GI) for Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) abatement, cost savings at wastewater treatment plants, improved water quality, decreased erosion, decreased run-off and improved aesthetics.

The presentation will look at an in-depth technical and financial analysis of the potential outcomes of implementing Green Infrastructure Best Management Practices (GI BMPs) on a large scale throughout Indianapolis, Indiana. Results indicate up to 30% reduction in peak flows where GI BMPs are implemented and approximately 1.6 billion gallons per year of stormwater to be removed from the CSO system. The most cost effective GI BMPs appear to be on-lot residential rain gardens, dual use passive recreation and distributed storage bioretention systems along streets and alleys.

The Mayor of Indianapolis started the Office of Sustainability and the SustainIndy Fund in his bold and innovative enterprise for making Indianapolis more sustainable. SustainIndy is aimed at delivering long term cost savings to tax payers and improving our local environment. The Green Infrastructure Master Implementation Plan was one of the first initiatives taken on by the Office of Sustainability to look at options for cost savings while improving aesthetics for the visitors and residents of Indianapolis.