Innovative Approach to Promoting Low Impact Design Techniques

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

The County of San Diego Watershed Protection Program is responsible for ensuring that the public manages landscapes in a way that will reduce the contribution of pollutants from urban runoff and storm water to local water bodies. Traditional methods of educating the public through mass media or enforcement are not always capable of widely disseminating focused messages about what residents and landscape professionals can do to protect water quality. Through a unique partnership with the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College, the County of San Diego funded installation of two exhibits using Low Impact Design (LID) principles to give these audiences an opportunity to visualize and experience LID techniques in practice. The two permanent exhibits, a permeable pavement fountain and a green roof structure, both provide a multi-sensory experience, are beautiful in color, and soothing in sound. They show that LID features can be both atheistically pleasing and environmentally sustainable. Through the Water Conservation Garden’s high attendance rate, and its on-going educational courses, both the public and professional landscape community have a unique opportunity to see attractive options which can be considered for incorporation into their home improvement projects.