Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Together, we can use Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) to collect, slow, and treat rain once it hits the earth and becomes stormwater. This will reduce flooding, sewer overflows, and pollution entering our waterways. GSI can take many forms, from rain gardens to trees, and delivers multiple benefits to communities and cities.

What can you do with GSI?

What is SPU doing with GSI?

  • Partnering with property owners to offer rebates for rain garden and cistern installations through the RainWise Program, delivered jointly with King County
  • Partnering with community, schools, peer City departments, and the private sector to weave GSI into the built environment
  • Building and maintaining GSI capital projects to keep Puget Sound clean
  • Enforcing the stormwater code in partnership with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections

GSI Benefits

  • Cleans stormwater before it enters our creeks, lakes, and Puget Sound
  • Reduces combined sewer overflows into our living waterways by keeping stormwater out of the system
  • Reduces flooding in our neighborhoods
  • Provides welcoming and colorful gathering spaces for our communities
  • Improves air quality
  • Stores more carbon in the ground
  • Slows traffic

Types of GSI

  • Rain gardens
  • Rainwater reuse systems
  • Bioretention (also known as Natural Drainage Systems)
  • Biofiltration swales
  • Trees
  • Green roofs
  • Permeable pavement
  • stormwater ponds
  • Floodable open space
  • Reconnecting urban creeks to natural floodplains

 

Additional Resources

 

Contact Information

For additional information about Green Stormwater Infrastructure programs, please contact Tracy Tackett, Green Infrastructure Program Manager, at tracy.tackett@seattle.gov or (206) 386-0052.

 

Public Utilities

Andrew Lee, General Manager and CEO
Address: 700 5th Avenue, Suite 4900, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 34018, Seattle, WA, 98124-5177
Phone: (206) 684-3000
SPUCustomerService@seattle.gov

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Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is comprised of three major direct-service providing utilities: the Water Utility, the Drainage and Wastewater Utility, and the Solid Waste Utility.