BRINGING NATURE BACK
Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Milford Town Park
Stormwater pollution is one of the greatest threats to the Charles River.
When it rains or snows, water runs off our roofs, sidewalks, driveways, and roads––all the impervious surfaces that make up our built environment––picking up pollution along the way.
Milford's traditional stormwater pipes create a super-highway for pollution and bring it straight to the Charles River. This polluted runoff degrades the river ecosystem––carrying excess nutrients that cause invasive species growth and cyanobacteria blooms.
LEARN MORE: CHECK OUT BRINGING NATURE BACK, OUR THREE-PART VIDEO SERIES ON GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN MILFORD!
We’re bringing nature back in Milford:
Over the past several years, we constructed Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Milford Town Park to reduce stormwater pollution and build climate resilience.
With funding from the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, we worked with the Town of Milford and engineers from Horsley Witten to study, design, and construct two rain gardens and an infiltration chamber in the heart of Milford.
Based on the Milford Subwatershed Restoration Study completed in 2020, the interventions will restore this vital park, protect the Charles River from stormwater pollution, and create resilience in an especially climate-vulnerable, environmental justice neighborhood.
What is Green Stormwater Infrastructure?
Green Infrastructure solutions bring nature back into our built environment.
These urban design solutions mimic the natural water cycle to stop runoff from polluting our rivers and flooding our homes, as well as make our neighborhoods more resilient to climate change, create wildlife habitat, cool our neighborhoods, and beautify public spaces.
Green infrastructure can look like a lot of things—rain gardens, permeable pavement, infiltration chambers, tree pits––but they all help restore our watershed.
MEET THE INFILTRATION CHAMBER:
When you walk through Milford Town Park, beneath your feet is an underground storage tank that collects stormwater, filters out pollution, and slowly returns it to the groundwater.
This nature-based solution helps restore clean, healthy rivers and protect our homes from flooding in extreme weather.
Infiltration chambers also make our watershed more resilient to drought––this system is estimated to return the equivalent of fifty-five concrete mixer trucks to the groundwater annually, which will help replenish streams and protect our public water supplies.
MEET THE RAIN GARDEN:
Milford Town Park also has two rain gardens that capture stormwater, filter out pollution, and slowly return it to the groundwater.
Filled with drought-resistant native plants, rain gardens also build biodiversity, create wildlife habitats, and beautify our parks, all while reducing nutrient pollution and flooding.
These nature-based solutions transform our neighborhoods—providing many benefits to public health benefits.
Educating the Milford Community.
From tabling at community events, to educating students at Stacy Middle School, to hosting tours, and sharing brochures, flyers, and bookmarks across town–––we have meaningfully engaged hundreds of community members in Milford.
This extensive outreach, in multiple languages, has helped the Milford community understand how green infrastructure in Milford Town Park works and how they can be better stewards of our river.
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