After nearly two weeks of labor and several rain delays, our bioswale at Edgewood School in New Haven is finished!
Bioswales are green infrastructure (GI) projects designed to reduce the flooding and pollution by absorbing and filtering stormwater before it can enter the sewer system. This project is a big step forward for New Haven, as the city’s combined sewer system is often overwhelmed by heavy rain. The Edgewood bioswale will help alleviate some of these issues and will have direct benefits for the health and cleanliness of New Haven’s West River. It also provides a new beautiful garden for the school and neighborhood.
Photos of the Edgewood bioswale’s construction can be found on our Facebook page and the New Haven Independent covered the project last week.
Looking ahead, Tom Sgroi, Director of Engineering for Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, believes we’re headed toward a greener future. “Pilot projects such as these,” he says, “can help serve to educate the public while providing valuable information on how to better design, construct, and maintain future GI projects here in New Haven.”
Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Executive Director of Urban Resources Initiative, also noted that this is about more than just stormwater. “This opportunity allowed URI to expand our “GreenSkills” green jobs training program for adults working on this Edgewood bioswale to learn construction skills and how to install green infrastructure. So this opportunity is both an investment in nature and in the people of our community.”
This Edgewood project is sponsored by Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its bi-state program Save the Sound; construction was coordinated effort by CFE/Save the Sound, the City of New Haven, the Urban Resources Initiative, and the Edgewood School; with funding made available by the Greater New Haven Green Fund, the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, and the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
For questions regarding this project or other stormwater projects in New Haven and the West River Watershed, please contact Kendall Barbery at CFE/Save the Sound by emailing kbarbery@savethesound.org.
Posted by Tyler Archer, Outreach & Development for CFE/Save the Sound
Photos by Kendall Barbery, GI Program Manager for CFE/Save the Sound
2 thoughts on “Our Edgewood Bioswale is finished!”
Comments are closed.