Something exciting is cropping up around Arlington, and its not just another new sports bar. Across the area, green streets are reducing the volume of stormwater and stormwater pollutants, and improving the health of our streams.
Green streets have a vegetated area in the public right-of-way that reduces the volume of stormwater and stormwater pollutants that enter our local streams, the Potomac River, and the Chesapeake Bay. The bowl-shaped, vegetated areas in a green street are rain gardens. They provide a temporary place for water to collect, be filtered by the soil and plants, and soak into the ground or be released into the stormwater system.
An underground pipe, or underdrain, is incorporated into their design, connecting the rain garden with the stormwater system. The pipe ensures that the rain garden will drain in less than 48 hours. Learn more about the rain garden plants used in Arlington's Green Streets here.
Arlington County is working with the Center for Watershed Protection to study all of the watersheds in the County and identify appropriate spaces on County land where green street projects can be added. This effort is part of the County's Stormwater Master Plan update. Information on the study's progress in each of the watersheds is available on the watershed retrofit page.