Green Infrastructure for Runoff | Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Ph.D. | TEDxStevensInstituteofTechnology

Ever wonder what happens to runoff when it rains? Most of us take for granted that rain overflow simply diverts to the sewer system, but in actuality, it poses a significant problem. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are caused by urban stormwater runoff, but result in uncontrolled discharges of raw sewage into receiving waters surrounding urban centers across the globe. In other words, a water quantity problem causes a water quality impact. Rooftops contribute a large proportion of a city’s runoff-generating surfaces, but because they’re out of sight, they’re also out of mind. This talk will introduce you to several green infrastructure technologies specifically designed to tackle the unique engineering challenges of reducing rooftop runoff, and identify what we still need to learn to address this critical infrastructure issue.
Dr. Elizabeth Fassman-Beck is a civil engineer specializing in urban stormwater management using green infrastructure. Her work linking the design to hydrologic and water quality performance of technologies such as living (green) roofs, bioretention/rain gardens, permeable pavements, and floating treatment wetlands is published in leading engineering journals. Elizabeth won the 2014 Wesley W. Horner Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for technical research on living roofs, co-authored the 2015 technical reference Living Roofs in Integrated Urban Water Systems, and has created technical specifications for regulatory agencies in Auckland (New Zealand) and North Carolina. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx