| “This is a grassroots tool that anyone can take and use.” |
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| David Dickson, National NEMO Network |
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Local officials may be intrigued by the idea of using low impact development (LID) to help curb stormwater and water quality issues, but they can be reluctant to implement LID without concrete examples of how other projects have been designed and implemented—and their long-term success. A new Web atlas is filling this need by showcasing examples of innovative LID projects from across the country.
“When we would go out and talk to communities about LID, a lot of them can be really nervous about being the first ones to do it,” says John Rozum, former director of Connecticut’s Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) project. “This [Web atlas] really came up as a way to help our target audience visualize what LID is, and see that the technology is being used successfully around their state and the nation.”
“The other piece,” says David Dickson, the National NEMO Network coordinator, “is to give them a contact they can talk to in other towns in their state and region. It’s serving as a portal to help local officials learn more about LID practices and about specific examples.”
The LID Atlas was recently launched by the National NEMO Network, a confederation of educational programs in 30 states dedicated to protecting natural resources through better land use and land-use planning. LID refers to a number of stormwater management practices—such as vegetated swales, rain gardens, green roofs, rain barrels and cisterns, permeable pavement, and water conservation—that reduce runoff and help to protect water resources from the impacts of nonpoint source pollution.
The user-friendly atlas can be searched for examples of a particular practice, projects from a particular state, or projects on a land-use type (commercial, industrial, residential, mixed use). There is also a keyword search for users looking for a specific project.
“This is a grassroots tool that anyone can take and use,” Dickson says.
Local in Approach
The atlas began as a Connecticut NEMO project to capture the LID projects in the state, says Rozum. It was quickly apparent that information from other NEMO programs could be added to the site to create a national resource.
When information about the Connecticut site was provided to the NEMO Network, the California NEMO program quickly signed on to add its inventory, Dickson says.
Connecticut’s and California’s data were combined using a “mashup” of each state’s local LID practices on Google Maps imagery. A mashup is a combination of tools, programs, or data from two or more sources to make a separate, integrated product. The only drawback to the Google technology, says Rozum, is that the atlas does not work when viewed in the current version of Internet Explorer, although they are working on a way around that problem.
Adding Examples
Other NEMO programs began adding their states’ LID projects, and the National NEMO Network held a contest to help populate the site with examples. The site currently has 233 examples, and each listing contains a project summary and specifics, photographs (when available), and links to more information.
Projects can be added in real time using an online form on the atlas website. Currently, only NEMO members are authorized to add projects, but coastal managers interested in including a project should contact their local NEMO coordinators, or e-mail Dickson.
Atlas information for a specific state can also be embedded on other websites. Because these localized versions pull from the same database as the national version, when a site is added to the atlas or edited, it is automatically updated on any embedded versions. NEMO programs in California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have already embedded localized versions of the LID Atlas on their websites.
“Coastal managers could use this site in much the same way as our target audience of land-use decision makers,” Rozum says. “It’s a great way to demonstrate how LID is working.”
Dickson adds, “This is an excellent example of the power of the NEMO Network to create unique educational products. Not many organizations could pull off something like this, and we did it with a minimal budget, just using the collective abilities of our network members.”
To view the National LID Atlas, point your browser to http://clear.uconn.edu/tools/lidmap/. For more information, you may contact David Dickson at (860) 345-5228 or david.dickson@uconn.edu.
