Managing stormwater wasn’t a burning issue for most Nashvillians until the May 2010 flood shone a glaring spotlight on where the city is lacking, stormwater runoff and sewage overflow.

But by employing green infrastructure and design, the city can save money and help prevent future floods, according to a peer-reviewed report released last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The report, Rooftops to Rivers II, provides detailed case studies analyzing how 14 cities of varying sizes – including Nashville – are using these methods and encourages the EPA to advance these solutions nationwide later this year. The cities featured in the report have improved their ability to manage stormwater and reduce runoff pollution, saved money and beautified their cityscapes.

“The catastrophic flooding last year was a major catalyst for the city’s decision to implement green infrastructure, primarily because green infrastructure techniques can prevent flooding by catching and stopping rain where it falls, causing it to be infiltrated back into the ground and stored for reuse,” says Rebecca Hammer, attorney in the Water Program at NRDC. “Nashville recognizes this is a huge benefit that could mitigate the risk of floods in the future.”

Nashville is recognized in the report for its commitment to developing and implementing green infrastructure programs, described extensively in the city’s Green Infrastructure Master Plan. By using methods such as green roofs, permeable pavements, rain gardens and street trees, Nashville is working to clean up its sewage overflow and stormwater runoff problems. In fact, the city began these initiatives years before the flood, including the completion in 2009 of one of the first green streets in the Southeast, transforming Deadrick Street into a pedestrian-friendly corridor with sidewalk-level bio-retention planters and porous concrete sidewalks.

Now, the NRDC hopes the report will sway the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to encourage cities nationwide to use some of these initiatives this winter when it is slated to propose reforms to the national standards for controlling runoff pollution from development – the first of such changes in many years.

“Our report strongly encourages the EPA to learn from these cities,” says John Devine, senior attorney with NRDC’s Water Program. “The EPA will be updating its national standards of water pollution in early December and should be using this opportunity to advance these solutions nationwide.”