Residents can learn about practices aimed at mitigating flood risks and improving water quality around Pensacola and Perdido Bays at three community workshops, co-hosted by University of Florida faculty and Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
“Low-impact development and ‘green infrastructure’ are ways to improve communities’ resiliency to wet-weather impacts,” said Eban Bean, an assistant professor of urban water resources at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Features such as rain gardens, vegetative swales, permeable pavement, green roofs and rain barrels can be designed reduce flooding and improve water quality.”
UF/IFAS Extension and research faculty have partnered with the counties’ staffs to educate the public and gain feedback on implementing such strategies in the area during the three events this month in Gulf Breeze, Pensacola and Milton.
Bean and Matthew Deitch, an assistant professor of watershed management at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center in Milton, will lead the discussions about urban runoff and water quality in the Panhandle. They’ll also describe how green infrastructure has been used throughout Florida to benefit communities.
After the educational sessions, participants can provide input on places where flooding is common and where water quality is impaired. This feedback will help decide areas where researchers will collect runoff and water quality data for the next two years and test the benefits of green infrastructure on flooding and water quality using computer simulations. Results will be shared at future workshops and guide future projects to reduce flooding and improve water quality in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
Online registration is encouraged and can be found at freeworkshop.eventbrite.com. The first 50 attendees at each meeting will receive an emergency rain poncho.
WHO: UF/IFAS faculty, partnered with Santa Rosa and Escambia counties, to inform residents in Pensacola Bay and Perdido Bay watersheds.
WHAT: Three free community workshops designed to educate the public about green infrastructure as a solution to flooding and water quality impairment.
DATES AND LOCATIONS:
- Oct. 1 at the Tiger Point Community Center, 1370 Tiger Park Lane, Gulf Breeze
- Oct. 3 at the Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center, 913 South I Street, Pensacola
- Oct. 10 at the University of Florida at Pensacola State College Milton Campus, 5988 U.S. 90, Building 4900, Pensacola
TIME: All workshops run from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
For questions or more information, contact Matthew Deitch at 850-983-7131 or [email protected].
