Low impact development plans move forward at EPA headquarters

June 3, 2003 -- EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC is moving forward with plans to "green-up" its newly consolidated home in the historic Federal Triangle Complex near the National Mall.

Beginning on May 22, visitors and employees will notice new low maintenance plants such as native wildflowers and nitrogen-fixing groundcover (specifically, red and white clover) adorning portions of EPA's Federal Triangle Complex.

This is the first phase in a larger project to use this federal space to showcase low impact development (LID) practices such as green roofs, cisterns, bioretention cells, rain gardens, and permeable pavers. The project is also intended to demonstrate that sustainable design and LID can be utilized in high profile urban sites that must pass through rigorous aesthetic design reviews.

EPA hopes that this project will also serve as a model for the federal community and will demonstrate many of the practices that can be used to lesson the effects of stormwater runoff and reduce sewage overflows into our nation's waters.

More information is available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/stormwater_hq.