Palencia Mobley is the founder and CEO of Mode Collective. Previously, she was the deputy director and chief engineer at Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, responsible for field service operations, engineering, facilities, fleet, capital construction, and regulatory affairs. Under her leadership, DWSD increased investment in green stormwater infrastructure by $19 million in ten years. She also increased the renewal of water and sewer infrastructure from 10 miles per year to greater than 50 miles per year. Under her leadership, the City of Detroit passed the first post-construction stormwater ordinance and DWSD implemented a full lead service line replacement program in 2018. That same year, she was appointed to the Michigan Infrastructure Council.
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“Gray infrastructure”—large projects engineered to prevent climate disasters—aren’t holding up to the extremes of the changing climate. Nature-based solutions represent a diff...