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Metrics for measuring green infrastructure impact

2:16:08

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Deputy Commissioner Licata discusses the challenges and current approaches to measuring the impact of green infrastructure, addressing both CSO reduction and other benefits like street flooding reduction.

The 'greened acre' metric is used as a volumetric target for CSO programs
In MS4 areas, the focus is on pollutant removal, measured by 'water quality volume'
DEP tracks various metrics, including water quality volume and stormwater management achievements
The department is working on developing more meaningful ways to relate these metrics to the public

Natasha Bynum

2:16:08

Sure I will ask it.

2:16:10

The question, I know that you've mentioned in your testimony that green infrastructure is not, or the green to acre metric rather is not totally conducive both to measure CSO reduction or to measure other sort of benefits of green infrastructure like street flooding.

2:16:30

Does DEP believe or know of any other metric that would better capture green infrastructure's impact on street flooding reduction or on any of the other co benefits?

Angela Licata

2:16:43

Yeah.

2:16:44

And we're struggling with this, but we want to work with you on how to address that question best to explain a greened acre is one inch of water over an acre of land.

2:17:00

That's just essentially meant to be a volumetric target.

2:17:04

So it's never greening an acre.

2:17:06

It's to be an efficient way of having water managed for the CSO program.

2:17:15

It's infiltrating it.

2:17:16

It's taking it out when the storm event occurs, putting it in the bands, putting it in storage so that the rain event can pass so that the CSO does not occur.

2:17:28

In the MS4 area, it's really about pollutant removal, and it's gonna get even wonkier, which is the state definition is water quality volume.

2:17:38

It took me the longest time to understand what does that mean.

2:17:42

The chairman may know that better than I do with your educational background, but the water quality volume is about having enough of the pollutants removed, so you're treating the water.

2:17:58

It's really a treatment metric.

2:18:00

So two different metrics, but we'd like to work with you to figure out a way to better relate that and to track that in a way that's meaningful.

2:18:10

We're certainly tracking it.

2:18:11

I heard earlier from Councilmember Holden that we have to be able to measure our success.

2:18:16

We do measure it.

2:18:17

We are measuring it today.

2:18:19

What is the water quality volume?

2:18:20

How many stormwater management do we have?

2:18:26

We're constantly looking at those metrics.

2:18:29

We know how much we're achieving through our unified stormwater rule.

2:18:32

We know how much we're achieving through the projects that we're developing.

2:18:36

OMB holds us to account on that, and we hold ourselves to a high standard.

2:18:40

How to relate that in a way that's meaningful to the public is something that we're struggling with.

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