Developing Green Infrastructure Typologies: Community Planning for a Resilient Caño Martin Peña (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Citation:
Bernagros, J., W. Michaels, AND C. Muñiz Pérez. Developing Green Infrastructure Typologies: Community Planning for a Resilient Caño Martin Peña (San Juan, Puerto Rico). WEFTEC 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 02, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Present to attendees at WEFTEC 2018 about EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance for Caño Martin Peña in San Juan, PR. Attendees will learn about how green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) practices may be adapted to urban areas in Puerto Rico that are prone to flooding. This presentation covers how GSI designs were developed with community input to explore how to make Caño Martin Peña more resilient and improve the overall quality of life and water quality. Lastly, attendees will learn how GSI concept designs from this project are currently being funded for implementation and lessons learned that could be applied to similar communities.
Description:
The Caño Martin Peña (CMP) is a 3.75-mile long tidal channel located at the heart of the San Juan Bay National Estuary that connects the San José Lagoon and the San Juan Bay in Puerto Rico. Historically, the channel was between 200 and 400 feet wide but has been reduced to 3 feet wide at some points and has a current depth of between 3.94 feet to 0 feet. Over time, the channel has become clogged with sediment and debris, threatening the health and livelihood of more than 23,000 residents in eight urban communities clustered around the channel. Sediments include a combination of debris, household refuse, and other solid waste. Habitat degradation and a deficient infrastructure has decreased the ability for the channel to properly manage stormwater and a reduction in ecosystem functions and values, including losses of economic and recreation opportunities. The clogged channel along with incompetent, poorly maintained or non- existent sewer systems result in flooding, regularly exposing residents to sewage polluted waters and sediments. Currently over 3,000 structures that are not connect to a centralized sanitary system discharge raw sewage into the remains of the channel. In September, 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria resulted in communities in the CMP being heavily impacted by flooding from polluted waters for many days. After these extreme hurricanes, flooding impacts have been documented more frequently in the CMP (ENLACE, 2017). The flooding impacts to homes, streets, and other infrastructure in the CMP have been documented in the New York Times (2017) and Rolling Stone Magazine (2017); highlighting the tremendous recovery needs. The public corporation Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña (ENLACE) was created to foster safer and healthier communities around a restored CMP. ENLACE’s mission is to oversee and implement the CMP District Plan which includes substantial sanitary and storm drainage infrastructure improvements; dredging of the channel to improve the flow between the San José Lagoon and the San Juan Bay; rehabilitation of existing housing and construction of new housing, economic development through job creation and tourism; and the relocation of families impacted by these projects. EPA has selected CMP as one of the locations of EPA national initiatives and programs such as San Juan Bay National Estuary Program (SJBEP), Making A Visible Difference in Communities (MVD), Urban Waters, Environmental Justice, Community wide Brownfields Assessment and Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA). In 2016, ENLACE requested technical assistance from the EPA through the SGIA program to support the design of the recreational and open space components from the CMP District Plan. The assistance was tailored to the ENLACE’s situation and priorities. EPA’s goals for the SGIA program include: supporting communities interested in implementing smart growth policies; creating regional examples of smart growth that can catalyze similar projects in the area; identifying common barriers and opportunities for smart growth development; and creating tools other communities can use. EPA funded a design team to assess the flood prone areas and collaborate with community stakeholders, ENLACE, and residents intended to develop design options that create much-needed open spaces that integrate green infrastructure and compete streets practices. The design options are intended to address stormwater management and flooding problems in tandem with the proposed improvements to the CMP’s traditional drainage infrastructure system and ecosystem restoration project while providing parks and plazas, and making the neighborhoods in the CMP more walkable and bikeable. In 2016, ENLACE and the US Army Corps of Engineers signed the Design Agreement for the CMP-Ecosystem Restoration Project, initiating the pre-construction, engineering and design phase.