Green Infrastructure

Delta advances proactive stormwater management through green designs such as permeable pavements, bioswales, and stormwater tree plantings.

Publications

Green Infrastructure Designs: Best Management Practices for Replicability

September 1, 2021

Land Acquisition Strategy: Michigan City

December 3, 2020

City of Gary Green Infrastructure Plan

October 9, 2020

Economic Benefit Targeting For Development Overview

May 3, 2019

Economic Benefit Targeting For Development Tool

May 3, 2019

Projects

Expanding and Stewarding Regional Forest Canopy via a Tree Planting Consortium in Northwest Indiana

Expanding and Stewarding Regional Forest Canopy via a Tree Planting Consortium in Northwest Indiana

Delta Institute is working with municipal, business, and community partners in Lake County, Indiana to expand regional forest canopy acreage via an innovative multi-community approach to comprehensive canopy mapping; forest planning, installing 2,240+ trees, and expanding maintenance and capacity building. These efforts will be achieved via a collaborative tree planting consortium structure with foundational inclusive community engagement throughout the entire process.

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Generating Critical Data and Methods to Support Nature-Based Green Infrastructure in Chicago Communities

Generating Critical Data and Methods to Support Nature-Based Green Infrastructure in Chicago Communities

Delta is working with community partners to install and monitor the impacts of four nature-based Green Infrastructure projects in the Chicago neighborhoods of Washington Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore in concert with Emerald South’s Terra Firma project and with the Metropolitan Planning Council. We will offer learnings, best practices, and results with other stakeholders and practitioners to inform Green Infrastructure installation in other Chicago neighborhoods and throughout the broader Midwest.

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Overcoming Barriers to Municipal Green Infrastructure Implementation

Overcoming Barriers to Municipal Green Infrastructure Implementation

The Delta Institute, with funding from the Great Lakes Protection Fund, is partnering with the Water Finance Exchange, the Resilience Innovation Network, the cities of Hobart, Michigan City, and Merrillville, Indiana, and many other municipal partners, to investigate the barriers to implementing GI in Great Lakes communities.

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Stormwater Tree Planting on the Hart Montague Trail in Oceana County, Michigan

Stormwater Tree Planting on the Hart Montague Trail in Oceana County, Michigan

Stormwater runoff from parking lots, roadways, buildings, and other impervious surfaces carries oils, grease, pesticides, sediment, and excess nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen into groundwater and nearby natural bodies of water--including to Lake MIchigan through watershed tributaries. Due to the increased frequency and severity of storms as a result of global climate change, volumes of stormwater runoff continue to increase.

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Creating a Green Infrastructure Plan for Gary, Indiana

Creating a Green Infrastructure Plan for Gary, Indiana

Delta’s Gary Green Infrastructure Plan is a two-year project focused on assisting the City of Gary with planning and implementing Green Infrastructure designs, identifying 61 Priority Projects to install 26 acres of rain gardens, permeable pavements, street planters, and other GI designs, collectively reducing the negative impacts of 132 million gallons of stormwater annually.

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Cheney Run Wetland Creation, Stormwater Design and Installation in Michigan City, Indiana

Cheney Run Wetland Creation, Stormwater Design and Installation in Michigan City, Indiana

Delta has enjoyed a long-term partnership with the Sanitary District of Michigan City and the Alliance for the Great Lakes to fund stormwater, ecological restoration, and recreation improvements at Michigan City’s Cheney Run. A 40-acre site surrounded by wetlands, Cheney Run is a primary source of stormwater-related pollution that ends up in Trail Creek, a major tributary that feeds into Lake Michigan. 

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Stormwater Management and Beautification Installations throughout Hobart, Indiana

Stormwater Management and Beautification Installations throughout Hobart, Indiana

Delta and the City of Hobart have implemented GI installations throughout the city, including a courtyard rain garden at Hobart Middle School, a parking lot rain garden and permeable pavement in the front and backsides of Hobart City Hall, and a large bioswale in the city’s Hillman Park.

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