Go RainWise: Outreach and its Impacts on Community Perception of Green Stormwater Infrastructure
The hydrological cycle has been disastrously altered by urbanization, inducing detrimental environmental, ecological, and social repercussions. This issue is worsened infinitely by climate change, wherein precipitation has and is projected to increase in intensity and quantity. Reliance on traditional gray stormwater infrastructure within urban cities like Seattle renders most of these areas unable to handle changes in precipitation. All while an effective stormwater management system, or green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), is lagging in application. The purpose of this study is to determine how people’s perceptions of green stormwater infrastructure are impacted by interactions with GSI outreach methods. To do so, I sent out a survey tailored to prospective and current customers of the RainWise rebate program, a program that financially incentivizes homeowner’s GSI use. The online survey was designed to examine outreach methods used by an environmental nonprofit called Sustainable Ballard to promote the program. Through this survey, I discovered that the outreach methods that increased positive perceptions of GSI most were webinars and mail. Word of mouth also played a significant role in how people decided to share information about both GSI and the program. These conclusions are useful for GSI implementation efforts lead by environmental nonprofits as they can lead to improved outreach and thus improved implementation. As a whole, this research exposes a knowledge gap, one where an increase in GSI outreach research could squash the looming threat improper stormwater management invites.