From Green Right Now Reports
Photo: Navy.org
With 40 installations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed alone, the United States Navy has an enormous environmental impact on the region. New construction and regular improvements of existing facilities pose a major challenge in terms of limiting damage to the local ecosystem.
Development in the region is increasing the number of impervious surfaces (roofs, driveways, parking lots, etc.) at a rate four times greater than population growth. As a result, stormwater runoff has become a major threat in terms of polluting the Bay.
The Navy has developed a low-impact policy aimed at maintaining or restoring pre-development hydrology. Using a combination of vegetation and retention devices, stormwater is managed at the source rather than allowing the water to travel downstream.
The overall goal: No net increase in stormwater volume or sediment and nutrient loading from new projects.
Those low-impact efforts are part of a broader Sustainable Infrastructure Program currently being implemented. The program serves to integrate environmental stewardship into all energy programs, asset management, capital improvements and public works management.
Recently, a parking lot at Naval Station Norfolk capped a waste disposal area and now bio-filters stormwater. Implementation of all major contruction projects will require low-impact techniques by 2011.
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