Bloomington Utilities: Residential Stormwater Grants Program

The Challenge

You know that spray that happens when your car or bike races through a deep puddle? The beauty of the spray can be exhilarating, but those deep puddles are evidence that our water has nowhere better to go which is bad news for roads, plants that don’t need that much water, streams collecting runoff, and basements. With climate change, Indiana is expected to get hotter and wetter. What kinds of things can we do on both publicly and privately owned lands to adapt to this reality?  

The Idea

One way to mitigate pooling and the amount of  polluted stormwater entering our streams is to build “green” stormwater infrastructure. This includes projects such as rain gardens, dry creek beds, and vegetated swales. Anything that captures the stormwater on its way to the stream and strips off some of the pollution before it continues is helping both the city and our environment.

These kinds of projects are a focus for the City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) Department, however, publicly owned lands do not account for the majority of our land mass. So, in 2019, CBU began a program to offer grants to residents who wanted to install “green” stormwater infrastructure. This program extended the City’s ability to mitigate the effects of flooding by engaging and empowering residents to identify the location and scope of impactful projects located on private lands. The stormwater infrastructure proposals will be ranked by members of the community and the City of Bloomington based on how much they will improve drainage and reduce the amount of pollutants released into our waterways.

The Cost

In 2019 -  the first year of the program -  the Residential Stormwater Grants allocated  $35,000 to interested residents. The program proved to be so popular with residents and potentially very impactful to the flow of stormwater in the City that the City of Bloomington Utilities doubled the allocation for 2020 and will be offering $70,000 in grants in the second year of this program.

The Benefit

These sustainable projects will help purify stormwater and prevent it from flooding our streets and sidewalks. In 2019, 11 “green” stormwater infrastructure projects were funded through this program. Furthermore, Mayor John Hamilton sees these projects as a way to “proactively address climate change.” These projects not only help our natural wildlife and ecosystem, they keep residents safe and dry. 

Accolades

Update 1/5/21: This program was featured in Stormwater Solutions Magazine and called out in the Water Environment Federation newsletter - an international water quality professionals organization. 

Metadata

City Department(s): City of Bloomington Utilities

City Department Point(s) of Contact: Vic Kelson, Kriste Lindberg

Partner(s): n/a

Type of Innovation: Process Improvement, Brand New Service

Date Implemented: 2019