Like most big cities, our nation's capital has lost most of its natural groundcover to buildings, sidewalks, streets and other hard surfaces. Without the buffering, filtering, and overall ability to soak up water that natural groundcover provides, heavy rains send dirty runoff sluicing into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. To help curb this contamination, the Washington Navy Yard has replaced sections of waterproof blacktop with bricklike tiles, as pictured above, that allow water to seep through to the ground below. In addition, the Navy has added trees and rows of plants to several parking lots within its vast complex to help capture runoff.

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Photo: Low Impact Development Center