A new tool from CSI highlights green infrastructure initiatives.

Cities and towns across Washington are taking tangible steps to get much more value from their infrastructure investments—while also supporting a more sustainable future. In large and small communities, city leaders are now demonstrating how infrastructure can better support health and environmental priorities, keep communities safe from storms and other disruptions, optimize local resources, and save money.

Take, for example, Half Moon Park in the City of Liberty Lake. This public park incorporates bioswale landscaping, using plants and soil to filter out pollutants and contaminants from stormwater. In fact, the park filters 100 percent of the site’s stormwater, resulting in up to 9 percent cost savings for the city. Beyond the environmental and financial benefits, Half Moon Park delivers unique amenities to residents, such as pipes that audibly move water throughout the park, connecting visitors to the force of water.

Typical of green infrastructure, the design of Half Moon Park is integrative. The landscaping and drainage aren’t treated simply as problems to be solved, separate from the public-service purpose of the park. Instead, they become intentional features of the park, enhancing the project’s appeal and utility for the community.

The design of Half Moon Park is integrative. The landscaping and drainage aren’t treated simply as problems to be solved, separate from the public-service purpose of the park. Instead, they become intentional features of the park, enhancing the project’s appeal and utility for the community.

Such forward-thinking projects offer tremendous benefits, because as anyone familiar with municipal government knows, infrastructure is a huge part of a city’s budget. Fortunately here in Washington, the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI) works with and encourages communities, agencies, and others to embrace a new 21st-century infrastructure vision—one that delivers more community value through innovative solutions that get the job done at the same or lower cost.

As part of that effort, CSI has created a helpful new tool—a data map, accessible at sustaininfrastructure.org/virtualtour—that gives high-level information on sustainable infrastructure projects across the state. Listed below are just a few of Washington’s innovative projects:

Water

City of Tumwater – Deschutes Valley Park Project

This park—a collaboration between the City of Tumwater and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance—contains a water reclamation tank that irrigates the nearby golf course while providing a community space. The result is cost savings for the city and reduced runoff of nitrogen into Budd Inlet.

City of Raymond – Pacific Gro Project

This project uses waste fish, crab, and shrimp to make fertilizer through cold enzymatic digestion. As per the name, the catch scrap comes from the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Washington and Oregon.

Energy

City of Pullman – Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project

This five-year, $178 million Smart Grid project helped save energy throughout the grid while empowering consumers to save money with choices and knowledge of their energy consumption.

City of Centralia – Tono Solar Project

This proposed solar project, slated to be constructed in Centralia by Transalta, represents a potential 180-megawatt increase to the state’s sustainable energy portfolio. Not only is the current site for this project unused, but it is also the site of a now-closed coal mine. This project would continue the site’s history of energy production in a newer, cleaner way.

Waste

City of Kent – Styro Recycle

Styro Recycle LLC accepts Styrofoam blocks and packing peanuts from the public for free. Clean and dry number six Styrofoam can be dropped off for recycling at their location in Kent, where it is then ground up and processed to be sold for use in new products.

City of Seattle – Seattle Food Rescue

Seattle Food Rescue is a nonprofit organization that redistributes donated food to communities in need. Volunteers across Seattle pick up food via bicycle at donor locations, then drop it off to recipient communities nearby. This organization primarily focuses on perishable foods with high nutritional value.

Transportation

City of Bellingham – 25th Street Improvement Project

Recent improvements on 25th Street included the construction of multimodal transportation infrastructure, such as a walking path and bike lanes. New methods dramatically reduced the environmental impact of the project, among other things by reducing stormwater issues and minimizing carbon dioxide exhaust. Over 70 percent of the materials used for the asphalt were reclaimed, significantly reducing both cost and environmental impact.

CSI developed the tool in the hopes that cities will use and share it. And cities can contact CSI (lisa@centerforsi.org) with any questions, ideas, or new projects they are interested in adding; CSI will continue to update the tool.

Lisa McCrummen,CSI’s director of marketing & strategic partnerships, has more than 25 years of experience in campaign strategy, strategic marketing and communications, and strategic partnership development and deployment for the government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors.