Aerial view of multiple filtration ponds outside of a wastewater treatment plant.

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    • Asset

    Water Infrastructure – Wastewater

    Relevant Options from Plans

    Designate the flood zone as green space that can be used for trails and recreation or to augment small scale agriculture or flood water retention. Conduct habitat, stream and floodplain restoration on properties purchased through floodplain buyouts. Inventory the use of herbicides and pesticides in parks and other public properties. Develop a strategy and establish targets to reduce use. Encourage nonprofits to hold land conservation easements. Encourage them to use those easements in ways that help manage climate change impacts. Conduct a resource gap assessment and identify and pursue new partnership opportunities to implement wildfire protection measures. Improve soil stability by increasing root mass with more vegetation and limiting grading activities. Develop a toilet retrofit program with an emphasis on serving low-income households. Such programs feature a rebate to customers that purchase and install a low flow toilet that uses 1.28 gallons per Encourage residents to re-establish natural floodplains. Collaborate with resource management agencies and the Soil and Water Conservation District to research the most effective and environmentally responsible ways to implement vegetation treatments to reduce Identify specific locations and general conditions that could use living shorelines in place of, or in combination with, seawalls. Develop a land bank program to preserve the natural and beneficial functions of flood hazard areas. Phase out septic systems where necessary to protect public health and water quality. Develop funding mechanisms to help homeowners with the cost of septic-to-sewer conversion. Align flood mitigation and open space investments. Establish long-term governmental agreements with federal, state, local, tribal, nonprofit and private partners to implement aggressive forest thinning, prescribed burning, post-treatment monitoring and Promote the protection and restoration of coastal natural systems and the creation of living shorelines at the regional scale. Increase the amount of ground cover and understory plantings for their water retention capacity. Monitor the success of migration by species of concern to newly suitable habitats. Identify additional protections for water and land, as needed, to ensure Document the hydrologic value of regional lands. Protect and invest in policies and actions that preserve the hydrological value of watersheds. Restore degraded ecosystems to a “climate-smart” condition that enhances the natural adaptive capacity of biological communities and allows for a healthy and functioning biological community both now Seal wastewater pipes that are at or below the existing groundwater level to protect the system against rising groundwater.

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