Listen to this week’s radio segment on the green efforts of Charles City, a Northeast Iowa town of about 8,000.

Read more about the project here, or check out the report below. 

To clean up water and guard against flooding, Charles City went big – really big.

This is the Iowa Environmental Focus on sustainable communities.

Last December, the city completed a 16 block permeable paving project – the largest of its kind in the state, and perhaps the nation.

Now, in a neighborhood once prone to flooded streets and heavy runoff, storm water can pass through the pavement instead of flowing into the Cedar River. The pavement absorbs up to three inches of rain and most pollutants.

So congratulations to Charles City – for paving the way to a greener Iowa.

For more information, visit IowaEnviornmentalFocus.org.

I’m Jerry Schnoor, from the UI Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research.

Thank You.