$250,000 of Additional Funding Announced for Green Solutions in Kansas Citys Marlborough Neighborhood (MO)
Environmental News
NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY
(Kansas
City, Kan., July 18, 2011) - EPA Region 7 will recognize homeowners
in the Marlborough area of Kansas City, Mo., this week for
installing rain gardens, rain barrels and other green solutions to
reduce stormwater runoff.
A tour of rain gardens and other green solutions
will be held for news media and city officials from 11:15 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. on Friday, July 22. A formal news conference will follow
at 12:00 p.m. at 1312 East 79th Street, Kansas
City, Mo. Officials will be on-site to provide residents
information about the use of rain gardens as effective tools for
managing stormwater.
EPA has completed the installation of eight
demonstration rain gardens at private residences in the Marlborough
area of Kansas City. The Agency is also installing 20 rain barrels
and disconnecting an equal number of roof drains that are connected
to the sewer system in the same area. These demonstration projects
on private property complement the work the city is doing to
install rain gardens, permeable pavement and other green solutions
in the public right-of-way of a 100-acre area that extends from
73rd Street to 77th Terrace and Holmes Road to Paseo
Boulevard.
EPA has provided more than $1 million dollars to
assist in Kansas City’s green solutions effort through its
National Risk Management Research Laboratories in Cincinnati, Ohio,
and Edison, N.J., and its Region 7 office. Partners on this project
include Mid-America Regional Council, City of Kansas City, Mo.,
University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Alabama, Tetra
Tech EMI, Shockey Consultants, Marlborough Coalition and student
volunteers.
WHAT: Commitment of additional $250,000 for
the collection of scientific data after green solutions are
installed.
WHEN: 12:00 p.m., Friday, July 22, 2011.
(Tour of new stormwater management solutions for news media will
begin at 11:15 a.m.) Parking is available in the lot across the
street from the Holy Martyrs Church at 7801 Paseo Boulevard, two
blocks east of the site of the news conference. The tour bus
departs from and returns to this parking lot.
WHERE: 1312 East 79thStreet,
Kansas City, Mo.
WHO: EPA Region 7 Acting Deputy Regional
Administrator Mark Hague; Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Pro-Tem Cindy
Circo; Councilman Michael Brooks; and Marlborough Coalition member
Brenda Thomas.
There are a number of technologies available to
reduce the impact of stormwater runoff while reducing pollutants.
These include permeable pavement which allows precipitation to soak
through the surface into the ground, rain gardens, rain barrels,
green roofs and other green landscape features. A rain garden is a
shallow depression planted with flowering plants and grasses which
holds rainwater for a short time until it soaks into the
ground.
Learn more about water-related activities in EPA Region 7
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