An East Liberty nonprofit isn't looking to save the environment by planting a garden on a neighborhood bus shelter.

East Liberty Development Inc., however, hopes to make a difference through attention the unconventional shelter could bring to green initiatives.

The group said it is spending $20,000 to install a "green roof" atop a Port Authority of Allegheny County bus shelter at Penn Avenue and North Whitfield Street.

The 4- by 8-foot rooftop garden, with about a dozen hardy plants, will play a minimal role in curbing sewage overflows into Pittsburgh's rivers or slowing adverse climate change, as some other large green projects seek to do, said Loralyn Fabian, the nonprofit's sustainability coordinator.

"It isn't actually to provide those kinds of benefits on a large scale. The point is to give people a chance to actually see a green roof. A lot of them are on top of buildings, and people never see them. This brings it down to street level," Fabian said.

The nonprofit used a private grant from The Sprout Fund to cover costs, which included money for consultants, engineers, signs and the green equipment and plants. Port Authority donated an unused bus shelter for the site, which didn't have one.

Workers outfitted the shelter with a pipe that runs from the rooftop planting to a tank in the shelter's seat. The tank will hold excess water runoff. Then, when sensors on the rooftop indicate plants are low on water, some will be pumped up; when the tank becomes full, water will be pumped out to water nearby trees.

Signs will explain all the elements of the green shelter.

"It might not have a huge impact on the environment, but I think the educational and awareness element of this is priceless," said Janie French, director of Green Infrastructure Programs for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

Philadelphia introduced a similar bus shelter in the summer.

Read more: East Liberty bus shelter rooftop gets $20,000 garden - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_771872.html#ixzz1hrNmlpxy