Spurring Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Stormwater Markets

This paper from Natural Resources Defense Council summarizes NRDC’s review of Philadelphia Water Department’s Greened Acre Retrofit Program (GARP). GARP encourages contractors or design and construction firms to compete for limited public grant funding by aggregating and presenting the lowest-cost retrofit opportunities available on private land. The availability of public dollars through GARP is intended to create a competitive green infrastructure market that can help PWD source low-cost stormwater management. NRDC helped PWD evaluate the program structure to make it easier for local firms to submit GARP applications.