A Green Approach to Reducing Flood Impacts

As rains get heavier and more frequent, flooding, especially in cities, is becoming a serious problem. The traditional way of managing stormwater has been to quickly get it off the road and into the storm sewer system to be sent downstream, said Lauren McPhillips, Assistant Professor of civil and environmental engineering and of agricultural and biological engineering at Penn State. “With the stormwater out of sight, the problem was out of mind.” However, whisking the water away increases risks of extreme flooding downstream.