text: Green infrastructure keeps waterways clean and healthy in two primary ways; water retention and water quality. Different green infrastructure strategies prevents runoff by capturing the rain where it lies, allowing it to filter into the ground to recharge groundwater, return to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, or be reused for another purpose like landscaping. Water quality is also improved by decreasing the amount of stormwater that reaches other waterways and removing contaminants. Vegetation and soil help capture and remove pollutants from stormwater in many ways like adsorption, filtration, and plant uptake. These processes break down or capture many of the common pollutants found in runoff.