City of Wilmington receives stewardship awards

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington was recently recognized for three different initiatives to clean up stormwater runoff, which runs into creeks and other waterways untreated. A city spokeswoman says Wilmington received outstanding awards from the Lower Cape Fear Stewardship Award Coalition for these projects:

 Stormwater Demonstration Site in Anne McCrary Park

The city’s Anne McCrary Park on Randall Parkway is an educational site for people to learn about ways to capture and naturally clean stormwater with soil and plants. The site includes a rain garden, native plants, shade trees, grassy swales, rain barrels, pervious walkways and pavement that allows water to drain through to the soil, and pet waste stations.

Raintree Stormwater Wetland

A drainage ditch on city property was converted to a functioning wetland in the Raintree Neighborhood off Greenville Loop Road. The wetland absorbs and filters polluted runoff from the Raintree neighborhood, allowing it to soak back into the ground, instead of running off into Hewletts Creek. The wetland is also helping to solve alleviate some nearby flooding.

DREAMS Bioretention Area & Pervious Pavement

The city, NC State University, and DREAMS collaborated on a federal grant to install pervious pavement, a large rain garden and native plantings to in order to naturally clean stormwater before it flows into nearby Burnt Mill Creek. DREAMS, located on city property at 10^th and Fanning streets, is a non-profit agency serving Wilmington youty