Current Initiatives

Trenton Green Infrastructure Partners

The Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Water Resources Program, in partnership with Isles, Inc. and New Jersey Future, is piloting a community-based initiative to implement green infrastructure demonstration projects throughout the City of Trenton. This project is focused on priority environmental issues identified by the community including efforts to better manage vacant properties, reducing nonpoint source water pollution, reducing nuisance flooding, addressing the impact of brownfields on community health, and upgrading aging infrastructure.

Green infrastructure is an approach to stormwater management that is cost-effective, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. Green infrastructure projects capture, filter, absorb, and reuse stormwater to maintain or mimic natural systems and to treat runoff as a resource. Green infrastructure practices use soil and vegetation to recycle stormwater runoff through infiltration and evapotranspiration. Green infrastructure is designed to keep rainwater out of the sewer system so that it does not contribute to a sewer overflow and also to reduce the amount of untreated water discharging to surface waters. These approaches are often referred to as “green infrastructure” because soil and vegetation are used instead of, or in addition to, pipes, pumps, storage tunnels, and other “hard infrastructure.”

The goal of this project is to identify green infrastructure opportunities in critical neighborhoods that can mitigate environmental health impacts in the community from water pollution and flooding. The project will focus on the capture, treatment, and reuse of stormwater runoff, reducing pressures on existing infrastructure in Trenton and protecting water quality in the Delaware River. Demonstration projects that have been completed to date include street tree plantings, rain gardens, and rainwater catchment systems. 

For more information, attend a Green Team meeting or see below: 

Kandyce Perry - Coordinator, Trenton Green Infrastructure Partners: Email