Community Corner

Naper Settlement Receives Award for Green Upgrades

The Naper Settlement was honored for the work it has done to improve stormwater management.

From the Naper Settlement

The Naperville Heritage Society and received a Sustainable Development Award from The Conservation Foundation at its winter membership and awards luncheon held Feb. 8.

The award was given for , completed in 2011, in which 42,000 square feet of asphalt pathways and parking was replaced with environmentally-friendly permeable, interlocking concrete pavers. Other best management practices included eight rain gardens, seven infiltration zones, two cisterns, a bioswale and a rain barrel.

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Brook McDonald, President/CEO of The Conservation Foundation, said, “Naper Settlement has been a leader for many years in educating the public about our past. Now, they are demonstrating on their site how people can restore and clean up our water for future generations.” 

Through the use of permeable pavers, under which a substantial sub-base of gravel lies, stormwater is slowed from entering the city sewer system and impurities are filtered out, helping to improve the water quality in the DuPage River Watershed. The project also addresses ongoing stormwater and flooding issues that have affected the site, its historic buildings and surrounding neighborhood. Several substantial grants from county, state and federal funding sources, including the United States and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies, supported over 85 percent of the total $2.3 million project cost.

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The public is invited to see the new interior roads and how they will help improve the DuPage River watershed during an Earth Day Celebration to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 21 and from 1 to 4 p.m. on April 22. Take a guided tour at 2 p.m. of the new rain gardens to discover how to design and select plants for this beneficial kind of garden. There will be a variety of activity stations including making a Soil Sammy, Garden in a Glove and Dissect a Seed; pumping water from an old-fashioned pump connected to the cisterns; and watching demonstrations that share the science behind the stormwater improvements. All activities are included with admission; Naperville residents are free.


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