The District of Columbia Water and Sewer has recently signed an agreement to establish a National Green Infrastructure Certification Program. This is predominantly geared toward fostering the success of qualified individuals who will install, inspect and maintain green infrastructure systems. In addition, the program will help boost community-based job creation in U.S. cities and substantiate national standards for professionals pursuing work in the realm of Green Infrastructure (GI). This comes on the heels of DC Water’s plans to implement large-scale GI to help control combined sewer overflows in the District of Columbia. This is also the basis for DC Water’s $2.6 billion DC Clean Rivers Project. In an average year of rainfall, DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project will decrease the city’s CSO (combined sewer overflow) volume by 96 percent to the area’s primary waterways.
In addition to helping reduce CSOs, GI practices (such as bio retention or rain gardens, pervious pavement, rain barrels, and green roofs) can provide triple-bottom-line (environmental, social, and economic) benefits to the District and other cities nationwide. DC Water is dedicated to instituting a purposeful job creation initiative that includes GI training and certification opportunities for District residents. The current introductory objective is to have 51 percent of new (local) jobs, generated by the GI project. Included in this proposal, will be the process of verification for individuals performing the installation, inspection, and maintenance of GI. This will ensure the attainment of required skills, and abilities to support long-term performance and sustainability of these systems. The first of these certifications will be granted in early 2017.
Save the Dates: Perma-Liner Industries has a lineup of events for you to attend! All are invited to come to one, or if you’re adventurous, all of our LIVE DEMOS coming up in April and May. You can go to www.perma-liner.com to register and find out more but first…here are the dates and locations to save: We’ll be in Seattle April 27th, Chicago May 4th and Philadelphia May 18th. You can expect to have our knowledgeable staff showing you the latest CIPP technology. We want to see you there!
