Today DC Water joined District officials to celebrate the completion of the Kennedy Street Revitalization Project. DC Water awarded more than $2 million for construction of Green Infrastructure (GI) practices within the 100 block of Kennedy Street NW under the Kennedy Street Revitalization Project, a partnership between DC Water, the District of Columbia Mayor's Office, and District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

These green practices will manage stormwater runoff to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into Rock Creek, to improve traffic and pedestrian safety conditions, and contribute to the revitalization of the historic Kennedy Street NW corridor from Georgia Avenue to North Capitol Street within the Ward 4 neighborhoods of Brightwood Park and Manor Park. The GI practices include bioretention (rain gardens), permeable parking lanes, drywells, landscape infiltration gaps, and new street trees. The inclusion of stormwater-related educational art visually connects this localized management of stormwater to the improved health of the Rock Creek, Potomac River, and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.

In 2013, DC Water launched the Green Infrastructure Challenge, a design competition to drive innovative, cost-effective, and replicable green infrastructure in the District of Columbia. Nitsch Engineering won the streetscape category for this project proposal to transform the streetscape, make the block a more habitable and pleasant place for District residents, support redevelopment and local business growth opportunities, provide pedestrian safety improvements, and reduce stormwater runoff.

A concurrent DDOT project to revitalize the block presented an opportunity for DC Water to partner with DDOT to construct the green practices within DDOT’s overall Kennedy Street NW Revitalization Project. The resulting partnership reduced project costs to ratepayers, minimized additional construction disruption to residents and business owners, and provided the basis for future Green Infrastructure partnerships between DDOT and DC Water, as exemplified by the  AlleyPalooza work to deliver green alleys within DC Water’s targeted combined sewer areas.

Commenting today was Seth Charde, Program Manager for Green Infrastructure Construction for DC Water’s DC Clean Rivers Project, who said, “Completion of the Green Infrastructure work on Kennedy Street is one of several recent accomplishments by DC Water to reduce combined sewer overflows in the District of Columbia: In the blocks surrounding Kennedy Street we are more than halfway completed with a green infrastructure project that will manage 22 impervious acres of stormwater runoff and has provided local green jobs to District residents. On the grey infrastructure side, the recently completed Anacostia River Tunnel has prevented over one billion gallons of combined sewer overflow from reaching the Anacostia River since it opened in March.”

For more information on the Clean Rivers Project, please visit www.dcwater.com/cleanrivers.