Roof-top pigs, green space & drainage

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands - Eveline Bronsdijk knew she'd done her job as the city’s sustainability adviser when Rotterdam citizens began debating whether pigs should be allowed on rooftops. In 2012, she was trying to promote green roofs, thin layers of plants that make buildings cooler, air cleaner and the city’s gutters and storm drains drier. At first, she touted how much rain the roofs can absorb in reducing the city’s chronic flooding. “They thought it’s nonsense. Why invest in something above your head that you can’t see?” Today, Rotterdam has more than 100 acres of rooftop greenery, enough to coat nearly every roof in New Orleans’ Central Business District with rain-absorbing vegetation. Rotterdam’s green roof initiative is one of a growing number of projects in Dutch cities that aim to capture and store rainwater while also making urban life more livable. Like New Orleans, Rotterdam is getting heavier rains and storms over the last 100 years. Precipitation has increased by more than 20 percent in both the Netherlands and the American South. The rain tends to come down in bursts that overwhelm old drainage systems. In New Orleans, it's clear the city’s century-old pumps can’t keep up, which causes more routine flooding. New Orleans architect David Waggonner has been calling on the city to find more ways to slow the rain temporarily until pipes and pumps can catch up. Waggonner helped write the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan, an ambitious, Dutch-inspired series of strategies for creating public green space, opening up more canals and other upgrades aimed at retaining or slowing water to give drainage infrastructure time to catch up. (Source: NOLA.com Part Four 03/08/20) https://www.nola.com/news/environment/water_ways/article_3b49a148-5e56-11ea-8115-2b83b5fcd4ee.html