Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is turning to a natural solution to manage its stormwater challenges, carving out space between sidewalks and curbs to create tiny marshlands within its urban landscaping. “This voluntary retrofit of a storm system in a dense urban setting is the first of its kind in the United States,” the Daily Journal of Commerce reported in an editorial by a project backer. The project, dubbed “the swale on Yale,” has placed marshy tracts known as “biofiltration swales” along the blocks near Yale Avenue, according to SPU.
The utility is working with local businesses to get the new stormwater treatment systems into its landscape. “The project is the biggest piece of Seattle’s effort to cut back on one of the most pernicious clashes between the Emerald City and its natural surroundings: the stormwater runoff that pours into Puget Sound, dumping loads of toxic chemicals nasty enough to kill salmon and other aquatic life,” Crosscut reported.
