Detroit Stormwater Hub

Background: The Nature Conservancy is working with a collaborative Advisory Group of stakeholders, and a Technical Advisory Committee of Detroit Sewerage and Water Department (DWSD) staff to develop the Detroit Stormwater Hub, a web-based project data and resource repository that will track green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) activities across the city of Detroit, and disseminate accurate, curated information. GSI is an engineered design for city landscapes that uses plants to absorb, retain, and slow stormwater runoff.

The Detroit Stormwater Hub had a four-pronged goal:

1) Increase awareness of current green infrastructure practices and community GSI resources in Detroit

2) Build community support around green infrastructure

3) Support the advanced coordination and implementation of green infrastructure practices throughout the city through a unique partnership between DWSD and community organizations

4) Demonstrate the success of GSI

The Nature Conservancy’s role in this phase of work has been to manage the development and launch of the website in partnership with DWSD and a group of advisors from various community organizations and institutions.

Challenge:

The goals of the promotions and outreach included: 

• Increasing Detroit residents’ awareness of the Detroit Stormwater Hub

• Driving traffic to the Detroit Stormwater Hub (DetroitStormwater.org)

• Encouraging organizations and individuals to enter projects in the project map

• Working with and gaining consensus with the 15 unique partnerships underlying the Detroit Stormwater Hub (DWSD & Community Advisory Group)