BECC: Green Infrastructure Forum III held in Arteaga, Coahuila

 

 

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Green Infrastructure Forum III held in Arteaga, Coahuila 

  

On September 21-22, the Green Infrastructure Forum III was held at the Autonomous University of Coahuila’s Digital Library(Infoteca Central) in Arteaga, Coahuila. The event was hosted by the State of Coahuila, the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, the North American Development Bank (NADB) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The purpose of the forum was to familiarize participants with the components and benefits of green infrastructure on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Attendees included primarily state and municipal officials responsible for planning, urban development and environmental issues.  

The one-and-a-half day forum included four keynote speakers and four discussion panels on topics such as  Green Infrastructure and Climate Change, Social and Public Health Benefits from Green Infrastructure, EPA's Border 2020 Program and Flood and Sediment Control, among others. 

As part of the forum events, on Tuesday, September 20, BECC and the State of Coahuila jointly hosted a Media Training workshop at the El Morillo Ranch Hotel, where media representatives learned about the fundamentals of green infrastructure, as presented by BECC consultant Adrian Vasquez and BECC Program Manager Joaquin Marruffo.

The forum events began right after the opening ceremony on Wednesday, September 21, with an introduction by BECC´s General Manager, Maria Elena Giner. Next, Tucson Urban Landscape Manager Irene Ogata who presented "Green Infrastructure and Climate Change". She emphasized that community involvement is paramount to the successful implementation of green infrastructure, resulting in an equitable, social and economic benefit. 

"Implementation tasks certainly take time and often the authorities hold back the projects, so joining efforts with stakeholders iscritical to achieve the proposed goals as quickly as possible," said the Tucson official.

The first panel discussion was "Floodings and Sediments Control", moderated by Dr. Lourdes Romo, General Director of Colegio de la Frontera, Northwestern Area. Aaron Kauffman of Southwest Urban Hydrology in Santa Fe said that over the years we have dried up our habitat. There is surface runoff available that can help create green areas and assist with flooding events caused by severe storms. He presented data showing that rain gardens maintain high soil moisture levels for long periods of time.

The panel discussion continued with a presentation by Van Clothier of Stream Dynamics, who pointed out that cleaning up city streets after a severe storm is a costly task, given that on many occasions, in addition to removing sediment from the streets, homes and buildings have to be rebuilt. He demonstrated how cost effectivegreen infrastructure elements may be woven into street designs to channel rainwater where it should go. He proposed, among other things, removing concrete from medians and/or sidewalks and taking advantage of the soil to grow native plants, and using a rainwater harvesting design, as has been done in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Clothier´s book "Let the Water do the Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels" was available during the forum. 

The third speaker in the discussion panel was Roberto Mejia of the Mexican Institute of Water Technology. He underscored that planning is essential to ensure optimal storm water management, especially managing new developments to implement a radical change in hydrology and storm water drainage practices in natural watersheds to allow water to move without interfering with its natural flow. Above all, he said, it is very important "not to forget that human beings are also part of the environment, and water doesn´t follow human rules but rather, humans must follow water rules."  

Next was the keynote address "How Green Infrastructure Grows Safer, Stronger Neighborhoods and Healthier People" by Frances (Ming) Kuo of the University of Illinois. She talked about the social and public health benefits associated to green infrastructure. Proving this took almost 30 years with the help of scientists and specialists in the field, she said. This occurs because most humans suffer from Green Deficit Disorder, i.e. humans see nature as something luxurious and lavish, therefore, we routinely destroy the few natural areas available to us, creating dry and cold areas. This in turn results in having around us more buildings and residential developments than green areas. She said that study after study, we have demonstrated that we have created unsuitable habitats, this practice has had a psychological impact on human beings and resulted in societal decay.

"But, how can we avoid a psychological decay?" Frances Kuo Ming asked. Her answer "In a very simple way, by creating green areas. The more green areas we have around us, it reduces the chance of developing some form of depression and mood swings." In support of this, she cited a study showing that one in four people suffering from depression do not have abundant green areas available to them.

She also reported that studies reflect that walking with children through a forested area helps them relax and increases their concentration. Physical decay, consisting of cardiovascular disorders such as heart attacks, hypertension, and heart failure, among others, can be prevented by walking 30 minutes a day through a forested or green area. This is equivalent to spending three hours in the gym and with better results, she said. This tells us that having a significant number of green areas or urban forests reduces the likelihood of suffering cardiovascular disease. She also discussed how much we could save in medication costs if we had more green areas available to us.

The forum continued with a discussion of the Border 2020 Program funded by EPA. The discussion included green infrastructureprojects currently under development, starting with a presentation by Jose Luis Escanero of the Mexican Federation of Private Health and Community Development Associations (FEMAP), who stated, as was done repeatedly during the forum, that green infrastructure is a key part of both the urban and social settings. He said FEMAP "has been working for over 30 years implementing different models in underserved areas of Chihuahua, where industrious and innovative housewives have been the protagonist" of an initiative to promote "green elements" in housing units. To the extent that this type of "progressive housing" is implemented, the resilience of these families will increase, said the FEMAP representative. In his discussion of the Border 2020 Program, he referred to the eco-housing project in West Juarez, which was funded by this binational program.

In the next presentation, Diego Sandoval of the Technological Institute of Ciudad Juarez, presented a green infrastructure project located in a public park in the Valle del Sol subdivision, also in Ciudad Juarez. He said the site was selected for its high urban density. Project objectives include: 

1.    Establishing passive rainwater harvesting systems
2.    Reconfiguring existing vegetation
3.    Protecting the soil
4.    Reducing the impacts of flooding events 

He said this initiative has helped establish great communication between area residents through social media, since theirinvolvement is critical to ensure the project’s success. Support from the authorities has also been obtained to enhance public spaces, since the program must comply with applicable regulations and ordinances at the three levels of government. 

Joaquin Murrieta, Watershed Management Group specialist, spoke on "Flood and Sediment Mitigation in the Border of Both Nogales - Sonora and Arizona" which is another project funded by Border 2020 Program. He said, "there are many ways of looking at green infrastructure. It´s not only about trees, but also about making the best use of rain, which is a critical natural resource."  

The panel closed with Jungseok Ho, from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley who presented "Determination of Ideal Parking Lot Bioswale Porous Material for South Texas" which assessed and analyzed the performance of material susch as pumice, manufactured sand, crush-glass and clean sand used in reducing flooding and recapturing runoff.

Two keynote presentations and three discussion panels were held the following day, Thursday, September 22. In the morning, Jessica Sargent, Director of Conservation Economics for the Trust for Public Land in Portland, Maine gave a keynote address entitled "Economic Impact of Urban Green Areas" where she presented hard data based on research regarding the economic impact of having urban green areas available. Her research project covered about a dozen very diverse cities or metropolitan areas in the United States. First, the research showed that the availability of these green spaces increases property values by 14% to 20% and this is reflected on more property taxes. Findings also showed that green areas help reduce health care costs and among other economic development aspects, they also support tourism, as urban parks attract visitors from other regions. The "green vitamin," as she referred to, must be present in everyday human activities.

There was a discussion panel entitled "Introduction of Green Infrastructure in the Mexican Municipal Legal Framework and its Design Technical Guides", moderated by a renowned Saltillo news commentator, Antonio Moreno of TV Azteca. The first speaker was Luis Vera, whose firm was contracted by the BECC to conduct a study on the federal and municipal legal framework in six border municipalities with potential for implementing green infrastructure. One of the major findings was the lack of legal efficiency resulting from regulatory differences, overlaps, and inconsistencies. To address that, he said, plans and programs applicable in the context of urban development must be aligned. Currently he is working with Tijuana, Nogales and Ciudad Juarez to integrate municipal code for green infrastructure.  

The next speaker, Guadalupe Peñuñuri, Director of IMPLAN in Hermosillo, presented a preliminary design of a green infrastructure project created for Hermosillo, where strategic planning and tools were used to implement green infrastructure components in roadways, medians, parks, residential developments, and water basins or sub-basins. As emphasized throughout the forum, "vegetation must be able to survive on its own or with the minimum amount of irrigation in desert areas," she said and added "we should encourage more participation from the community and relevant agencies involved in decision-making processes."

Additionally she presented the design guidelines that will serve as a tool for all Mexican communities to adopt green infrastructure. 

The discussion panel also featured the participation of urban planning officials Nora Marquez of IMPLAN Tijuana, Claudia Gil of IMIP Nogales and Viente Lopez of IMIP Ciudad Juarez. They discussed their experiences in integrating green infrastructure into their local municipal codes. 

The keynote address "Adjusting Green Infrastructure to Different Physical and Administrative Contexts" was delivered by Augusto Sanchez of Lower Rio Grande Valley Stormwater Taskforce. He spoke about his experience in various projects located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, east of the border. Some of the lessons learned from these projects include the following: 

1.    Thoroughly analyze runoffs.
2.    Respect and enforce design specifications and details.
3.    Manage existing vegetation and other natural elements.
4.    Assess locally available supplies and use alternative materials (concrete, glass, compost). 
5.    Provide for diversity in green roofs, rain gardens, and storm water canals. 

He said educating the community is essential, starting with children, so they can learn about and appreciate the adoption of green infrastructure in urban developments. Another element consists of using education campaigns, including signage placed at various locations throughout the city and certainly in green areas, in order to create public awareness. An additional step is to incorporate the municipalities in the design process, as well as multidisciplinary groups, including planning experts, engineers, landscape architects, etc.

Lastly, the host, Coahuila´s Secretary of the Environment, Eglantina Canales, and Joaquin Murrieta, gave a presentation where they explained the green infrastructure elements that have been implemented in Saltillo, as a preamble to the tour that followed in the afternoon. Secretary Canales said the tasks were developed with the assistance of Department of Parks staff after a workshop where they were made aware of the detailed objectives and the importance of green areas. She said green infrastructure has been implemented gradually in an attempt to transform Saltillo and take advantage of available rainwater.

Upon formally closing the forum proceedings, a tour was given of the local parks and green areas that were retrofitted last year with the help of the BECC/NADB Technical Assistance Program, first in a remote area and later in two public facilities –the Torreon and Chapulin parks. The tour ended at the State of Coahuila's public nursery in Saltillo whose focus has been to grow native plants.

(Videos) Guadalupe Montessori School rainwater harvesting during monsoon downpour

In the Guadalupe Montessori School driveway flood series. Here, the basins by the bike path are getting a run for their money.

Another angle on the arroyo's path over the field and exit to Alabama. Before the work, the arroyo made its exit down the south driveway (our exit driveway). In the first frame, you can see the berm that is redirecting the water on to the field. If the water had exited to Alabama right there, the water's path would have been significantly shorter, and the flow would have been much faster, causing way more damage.

We've got work to do to clean up the mess, but are nonetheless feeling grateful. If you would like to donate any time, money, gravel or rock to help in our efforts, let us know!

La Mancha Wetland Progress Report

Work has resumed at SWEC's La Mancha Wetland Project. We estimate it will take 2-3 weeks to finish this phase of the project, which consists of excavating a deep pond connected to an existing marsh. The pond will fill with groundwater and will provide year-round habitat for fish and other aquatic creatures, even when the river is dry. The next and final phase of the project will be to construct a connecting channel across the IBWC floodway to the river.

We'll post frequent progress reports here. Scroll down for older posts.

January 28. Day eight of construction.

Ponded areas are significantly larger and will soon be connected to make a large area of aquatic habitat. Just what this area needs!

January 27. Day seven of construction.

Anybody need any big chunks of concrete? Maybe repurpose them for flagstones? We've got plenty that were buried on the site. Despite the challenge of moving all that concrete, Van and Mike are making progress. Today they started work on another pond area (see below), that will eventually be connected to the other ponds, creating one large aquatic feature.

Van explains where the new channel will go while Frankie observes.

January 26. Day six of construction.

Wow! Van and Mike moved mad amounts of dirt today. The hill on the neighbor's property is gone, as is much of the berm that was on the west side of the basin. It is exciting how much the site has been transformed. You can now begin to glimpse the outlines of the final design. And, these guys are really handy with their machines. Check out Van popping a wheelie on the excavator below. Don't try this at home!

January 25. Day five of construction.

Van and Mike continue to move massive amounts of dirt as they lower the existing hill on the neighbor's property (with permission!) and push out the existing west berm around SWEC's property. The end result will be a larger wetland, better access and a more attractive landscape overall. They've also enlarged the new pond, now down to about six feet depth. This pond will eventually be connected to the existing pond on the north end of the property, creating a much larger area of fish habitat.

Looking south. Much of the previous berm on the right has been lowered and pushed out of the photo. Frankie inspects the day's work.

January 21. Day three of construction.

Van and Mike worked until dark again. They moved a lot of dirt! The pond in the foreground (which didn't exist three days ago) is down to about six feet. The pile of concrete rubble from yesterday has been distributed strategically around the site. It's slow going, but we're making progress.

January 20. Day two of construction.

One of the challenges we face in excavating a deep, perennial pond at the site is the large quantity of concrete rubble buried there.

(The donor of the property--now deceased--did not inform us that the site had been used to dispose of concrete waste from a street reconstruction project. I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch!)

So, while that slows down the digging considerably, we're making lemonade by relocating the concrete around the perimeter of the site, and actually putting some back in the pond to create habitat for fish, insects and even turtles (think sunbathing rocks).

Here's an example of what we're dealing with. This is the pile of concrete that our Van has removed in just one day's digging.

January 19. Day one of construction.

Today the two pieces of heavy equipment arrived at the project site: an excavator on tracks that can swivel 360 degrees with a large shovel, and a big bulldozer.

Our contractor for the dirt work is Stream Dynamics out of Silver City, owned by Van Clothier. Van and his company are well-known for their ecological restoration work as well as water harvesting projects. He has subcontracted with High Desert Consulting out of El Paso, owned by Mike Gaglio, who also has a lot of ecological restoration experience in the area. We chose these guys because they truly know their stuff when it comes to wetland restoration.

Here I am congratulating Mike after the first day of work.

January 18. Pre-construction.

Here's what the site looks like now. Note Picacho Peak in the background.

Reunión Vecinos Valle del Sol con Equipo de Stream Dynamics Inc.

Plan estrategico de JuarezSe llevó a cabo una reunión con Vecinos de la Zona Valle del Sol, Red de Vecinos y el equipo de Stream Dynamics, Inc. con el propósito de dar seguimiento al proyecto de captación de agua en la zona Valle del Sol.

Marco/Propósito

En el marco del seguimiento al proyecto aprobado por la COCEF en el que dotará de cuencas y equipamiento para la captación del agua al parque ubicado sobre la Avenida Valle del Sol, se llevó a cabo una reunión en el que estuvieron presentes vecinos del sector, Red de Vecinos e integrantes de Stream Dymanics, Inc. que es la organización que apoyará con el diseño y supervisión de las adecuaciones que se le harán al parque ubicado a un costado de Villas Solares. En éste parque se pretende modificar de tal manera que se utilice el agua de lluvia para riego y el parque pueda tener una vida mas dinámica con plantas de la región, asi como aprovechar los estancaminetos que se hacen con la lluvia sobre el pavimento.

Water Harvesting Bike Tour

Van on 1958 Schwinn HornetOn Thursday, September 24th Stream Dynamics hosted a Bike Tour of water harvesting projects as part of the 11th annual Gila River Festival. Twenty bikes of all varieties joined us on a tour of 20 project sites. Although we have been building water harvesting projects within the Town of Silver City since 2008, our current project is to build 80 water harvesting projects! This ambitious mega-project is funded through a grant from the New Mexico Environment Department as part of their River Stewardship program. So far we have built 9 new projects, so we only have 71 more to go!

Water Harvesting creates public greenspaces within the right of way adjacent to the roads. These greenspaces are known to have a calming effect on the resident human population, especially drivers. As our streets become more shaded and beautiful, more people start walking and biking. This has been demonstrated effectively in Tucson, Arizona.

Last Fall, we went to a conference on Green Infrastructure in Tucson put on by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission. The best presentation was by guy named Dr. Richard Johnson, formerly with the Center for Disease Control in Washington, D.C. He has been studying the effects of infrastructure in cities for many years. He showed us amazing results. One example was of some public housing high rise complex in the industrial East. There were two identical high rise apartment buildings side by side, but they ran out of budget for landscaping and only landscaped one of the buildings. The front of one building had large trees and some nice grass and a relatively nice place to hang out, and the other building had bare dirt all around it. Low income people were randomly assigned apartments in the two buildings. A study was done years later about the living conditions at the complex. They looked at things like the incidence of various diseases, the crime rate, etc. The statistical evidence was overwhelming that the people who lived in the building with the nice landscaping led healthier, happier lives, spent more time outside, tended to know their neighbors, had a lower crime rate, and even a lower diabetes rate!

In Silver City, New Mexico we are following the good example of Watershed Management Group from Tucson Arizona. There is a growing culture of bicycling and water harvesting. These two things go hand in hand. We are creating beautiful spaces in our town, and then we enjoy walking and bicycling through them.

The last stop on the water harvesting tour was at the watering hole at the office of Stream Dynamics. Bike riding is thirsty work, and merits a cold beer at the end of the ride!

San Vicente Restoration Project after large flood

La Cienega de San Vicente Restoration Project has been ongoing with the New Mexico Environment Department for several years. Last summer, Stream Dynamics Inc. was hired by NMED to protect the Town of Silver City's sewer line across the creek channel with a constructed A-arm Crossvane.

Stream Dynamics Inc. visited our San Vicente Creek Crossvane today, to assess its success after a series of heavy monsoon rains… We are happy to say that it looks great after a tornado, and three great rain storms, including an event that topped bank full (1.15 in in 2 hours)! There are many native plants, wildflowers, and trees thriving in the constructed water harvesting basins, and along the floodplain. It looks so good, you can hardly tell we did anything at all!

Video: Cobre Creek culvert fix and habitat creation

At the end of May, Stream Dynamics, Inc. designed and oversaw the construction of a wetland feature in a spring fed creek at McKee Street Parkin Bayard, New Mexico. This neighborhood is blessed with a permanent springs in the high desert. We believe this is the headwaters of Cobre Creek. Working with Deming Excavating, Inc. and the City of Bayard, we cleaned out a blocked culvert and built a rock rundown to speed up floodwaters and reduce the flooding of the downstream neighbor's property. We also raised the base flow water table and created a wetland pond habitat for frogs and kids and dogs! The shore of the pond was planted with sedges, cattails, bulrushes. Willows were planted along the edge of the park to provide visual screening, and a native mint was planted for the residents to harvest. We will be monitoring this during the monsoons and posting updates, so stay tuned.

Restoration in the Borderlands

Restoration in the Borderlands: Wildcat Canyon is 14 miles east of Douglas Arizona and only 1 mile north of the Mexican border. This project, funded by the Department of Homeland Security began with a landform survey last September. In January we did the preliminary design, and we have constructed a series of 10 gully plugs and ponds that will re-wet the historic Giant Sacaton grasslands.

Creating wetlands in Valles Caldera

Jaramillo Creek in the Valles Caldera ran through a gully for 700 feet, draining the wetlands. The gully was plugged in seven places, creating seven ponds and a series of wetland swales and small channels. Work was completed on October 1, 2014.

Arroyo San Vicente project in action (flash flood video!)

Under Contract with the New Mexico Environment Department, Stream Dynamics, Inc. built a Rosgen Cross Vane to protect the sewer line in Silver City. This project included water harvesting diversions to constructed wetlands that were planted with a total of 175 native plants of 32 species, and seeded with 26 native species of native grasses, wildflowers and shrubs.  It had rained hard in Silver City at about 5:00 pm on Friday, August 1.  Van Clothier went down to the creek at 6:00, arriving moments before a flash flood came down the dry channel.  Watch as the leading edge of a flash flood begins flowing down the creek and also into two big water harvesting diversions.

Below this video is a gallery of pre-construction, post-construction, and action photos during the 2014 monsoon.

Water is guided in three ways: down the creek over the grade control, and into right and left diversion basins. This is a Rosgen cross-vane with an "A" arm and a Zuni bowl. It defines a riffle-run-pool-glide sequence in the creek.

We have replicated a pattern found in nature that dissipates energy with a plunge pool. Added to this are diversions to water harvesting basins on both banks.

On Friday, August 1 it rained very hard in Silver City at 5:00 pm. At 6:00 pm, Van Clothier went down to the creek, arriving just two minutes before this flash flood!

Arroyo San Vicente project works beautifully... watch a flash flood come down the main channel, hit the cross-vane and flow into the water harvesting basins!