[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ELGL is passionate about the free and open exchange of ideas where local governments can learn from one another to be most successful. When local leaders share their success stories, everybody wins. This is especially true on expensive and complex public works projects, and so we’re partnering with The Atlas Marketplace to collect and share details about the best water projects in the nation. The Atlas is an online community where public officials learn from one another as they are upgrading infrastructure systems — including water! — to be stronger, smarter, and more sustainable.
We’ve selected 18 amazing water projects for you to learn more about on ELGL.org and The Atlas. Check out the project descriptions below, and then click through to the Atlas for more details about each project.
Voting for the Top 4 projects is now open through midnight Wednesday, May 2nd. Here’s what’s on the line:
- Honors at the ELGL18 conference in Golden, CO May 18th.
- Profiles (via interviews, pictures, articles) by ELGL and The Atlas.
- A year’s free membership to ELGL, a trophy, and a box of goodies.
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Los Angeles, CA
At a Glance: Construction of an Advanced Water Treatment Facility (AWPF) at Terminal Island Water Reclamation Plant (TIWRP) to provide safe recycled water for potable reuse for the surrounding area. The planning of this project started in 1985 and the construction was broken in two phases.
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San Diego, CA
At a Glance: A binational project that repurposes trash collected in Mexico to create booms that capture trash flowing into San Diego County.
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San Diego County, CA
At a Glance: This pilot project provides water conservation ‘home makeovers’ to 50 low income homes in Encanto, a disadvantaged community in San Diego County. The project includes retrofits and personalized landscaping, as well as outreach including quarterly reports on water savings metrics and school programming.
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Oceanside, CA
At a Glance: Mission Avenue Streetscape is a “complete green street” in Oceanside, San Diego County. This project implemented a ‘road diet’ to support local businesses, make the area more enjoyable, and include storm water BMPs.
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San Diego, CA
At a Glance: The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the agency that manages the day-to-day operations of San Diego International Airport (SAN), is pursuing an integrated approach to managing water quality, water use, and flood resilience.
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San Diego, CA
At a Glance: City crews worked long hours to install temporary pumps and generators; the pumps were operated manually 24 hr/day, shifts scheduled around the clock to keep pumps running and site secure. The City returned the Pump Station to full operating condition and kept costs to a minimum with the use of in-house staff.
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Oakland Park, FL
At a Glance: Retrofits to existing stormwater control structures and have constructed new exfiltration trenches, catch basins & manholes, and roadside swales to deal with repeat flood losses. Retrofits seamlessly integrate both green (grass swales) and grey (pumps, trenches) components.
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Broward County, FL
At a Glance: Low-lying coastal areas of Broward County can be impacted by flooding from high tide events. To help document locations and severity of flooding, Broward County launched a citizen science effort that encouraged citizens to submit geotagged pictures of flooding via their smartphones.
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Orlando, FL
At a Glance: The City of Orlando plans to upgrade Lake Monitoring stations as part of this project. These stations will communicate rain intensity.duration data to the cloud via wireless connectivity. This information will be used to create an Orlando Unit Hydrograph curve to model storm events within the Orlando watershed
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St. Paul, MN
At a Glance: City of St. Paul had the opportunity to redevelop a vacant 135-acre Ford Motor Co. campus that included a riverfront area abutting Hidden Falls Regional Park. However the current site lacked stormwater management transportation options to support its use by the community. Because of its prominent location, Mayor Chris Coleman urged the city staff to study and replicate the best practices for a “21st century community.” Development plans have been informed by community input and enhanced by triple bottom line cost analysis.
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Kansas City, MO
At a Glance: Kansas City, Missouri, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collaborate on complex flooding problem-solving and managed funding, administration and real estate in order to reduce heavy rain stormwater impact on local businesses and residences.
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Hoboken, NJ
At a Glance: After experiencing significant flooding during Hurricane Sandy, the Southwest Resiliency Park is the first in a series of investments the city is making to increase green space and reduce flooding vulnerability for communities.
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Camden, NJ
At a Glance: Constructed 4 riverfront parks and 60 rain gardens in Camden City to provide green amenities for the residents, reduce combined sewage flooding and overflows, and also create green maintenance jobs
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Cincinnati, OH
At a Glance: To keep sewage mixed with stormwater out of waterways during rain events, Metropolitan Sewer District built a smarter sewer system that costs less than any other solution. Using sensors and computers, we can now monitor and redirect stormwater flows from full interceptor sewers to areas with available capacity.
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Hermiston, OR
At a Glance: The city needed to upgrade its effluent to discharge into the Umatilla River. After extensive study and research, the best solution was determined to be treating the water to the level that it could be applied to regular crops. So now the city discharges to the West Extension Irrigation District canal during irrigation season.
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Philadelphia, PA
At a Glance: Philadelphia Water Department installed continuous monitoring and adaptive control (CMAC) technology in stormwater retention basin to control runoff in real-time and reduce flooding.
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Houston, TX
At a Glance: In the midst of Hurricane Harvey, City of Houston officials and the local tech community responded rapidly using data, tech, and crowdsourcing to hack disaster response efforts. These new approaches leverage the power of the crowd to revolutionize disaster rescue, relief, and recovery operations.
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Houston, TX
At a Glance: Part of a broader redevelopment effort, Bagby Street – a ten-block corridor in a dense, urban neighborhood of Houston – was redesigned to improve mobility for vehicles and pedestrians, and add aesthetic appeal to the road. Improvements led to Bagby Street being named one of Texas’ first certified Greenroads.
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Norfolk, VA
At a Glance: Retain your rain seeks to engage residents in a city-wide systemic approach to stormwater management by encouraging the use of small-scale green infrastructure on their properties. This reduces the amount of water that goes into the stormwater system which can cause floods in our streets and neighborhoods.
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Terminal Island Advanced Water Purification
Upcycled Trash Booms for Trash Cleanup in the Tijuana River Valley 
Water Conservation Home Makeover at Chollas Creek 
Mission Avenue Complete Street 
Closed Loop Water Infrastructure at the San Diego International Airport 
Canyonside Recycled Water Pump Station Emergency Repairs for Flood Damage 
Citizen Science for King Tide Flooding 
Using Data & Creativity to Reduce Flooding
Justifying Green Stormwater Design for St Paul 
Enhanced Flood Risk Reduction Through Bistate, Multiagency Partnership 
Southwest Resiliency Park to Mitigate Stormwater Flooding 
Using Green Infrastructure To Green Camden City and Reduce Combined Sewage Flooding and Overflows 
Building a Smarter Sewer System to Reduce Overflows in Greater Cincinnati 
Upgraded wastewater treatment to a level acceptable to reuse on crops
Reducing CSOs with CMAC Technology 
Hacking the Storm: Crowdsourcing, Civic Hacking, and Innovation in Harvey’s Wake
Lower Footprint Biofiltration to Increase Efficiency in Right of Way Stormwater Capture
Retain Your Rain