The third "River Minute" in this week's series about the Merrimack River.
When it comes to protecting the river from runoff, the right thing to do might be the cheapest.
I'm Sam Evans-Brown with this Merrimack River Minute.
One of the river’s biggest problems is parking lot runoff. Traditionally, engineers use a lot of hardware and holding tanks to minimize this.
But Jamie Houle at the UNH Stormwater Center says developers might find it pays to take a greener route.
CUT Jamie: we can design a system that deals with stormwater on site, without using all this piping and network of drains and have huge savings.
Houle says one of the easiest steps is to use planted median strips and keep them low so rain water flows into rather than around them.
Such methods are most likely to save money on new construction projects. When dealing with existing parking lots, the numbers don’t necessarily work out.
With this Merrimack River minute, I'm Sam Evans-Brown.
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