The Patrick Henry Drive Median Green Street Project was the first green street in Arlington. Two bioretention areas collect polluted runoff from an area of three-fourths of an acre.
Watershed Management
Watershed management is the effort to protect streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries by focusing on land activities in the area that drain to a water body. Watershed management includes:
- Land use planning
- Regulation of development
- Control of water pollution
- Stream buffer protection and stream restoration
- Outreach and education
These programs consider all sources of pollution in a watershed, including spills, leaks, factories and stormwater runoff from urban and agricultural areas. In an urban area like Arlington, with very few industrial facilities, stormwater is the main source of pollution to local streams. The major point source discharger in Arlington is the Water Pollution Control Plant.
Stormwater Management
Stormwater management describes programs to control stormwater runoff for the purposes of reducing downstream erosion, water quality degradation and flooding as well as mitigating the adverse effects of land use on the aquatic environment. Our Stormwater Management Program includes:
- Reducing risks to public and private property from flooding.
- Maintaining and replacing stormwater infrastructure.
- Restoring stream corridors and other water quality improvement projects.
- Adding stormwater treatment facilities, such as green streets, to areas that don’t have stormwater treatment.
- Requiring on-site stormwater controls for new development.
- Identifying opportunities for retrofits to reduce stormwater pollution.
- Employing outreach, education and Volunteer Stream Monitoring Programs.
- Implementing urban housekeeping best practices, like street sweeping, catch basin cleaning, storm sewer inspections and pollution prevention.