CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Officials on Monday unveiled the first of a series of ''green' projects that use natural landscaping, rather than underground pipes, to absorb rainwater and help reduce sewage overflows into Lake Erie.

This project involves three sites on cleared lots in the foreclosure-blighted Slavic Village neighborhood. Each features a man-made basin designed to collect and absorb rain water that otherwise would flow into sewers.

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District officials envision the projects as a component of their $3 billion effort to dig giant underground storage tunnels to keep storm runoff from flooding sewers and sending untreated sewage into Lake Erie.

Sewer officials estimate the project unveiled Monday, which cost $338,000, will help keep 200,000 gallons worth of stormwater out of the sewer system each year.

The sewer district held a Monday news conference near one of the sites, on East 78th Street between Union Avenue and Aetna Road, that formerly held several abandoned, condemned houses.

Now, it's a landscaped area featuring trees with a retention basin in the middle. After the site grows in, mulch beds will be framed by vegetation.

The sites are among 10 planned 'green' projects that are expected to cost a total of $82 million. Officials with Slavic Village Development, the neighborhood's community development corporation, helped the sewer district pick out the sites.

The East 78th Street site is off a bike and walking trail, and is a 10-minute walk from Trailside, a development of new homes.

"It's a part of the neighborhood," said Christopher Alvarado, Slavic Village Development's executive director.

Cleveland Councilman Tony Brancatelli, who represents Slavic Village, said the projects will help the neighborhood with its ongoing recovery.

The sewer district's green sites are expected to be complete before 2019.

"The hope here is to get a lot of good information from this project, so we can repeat it in a lot of other neighborhoods," said Kellie Rotunno, director of engineering and construction for the sewer district.

Ken Kopocis, a deputy assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, also attended the event on Monday as a show of support from the federal government.

Julius Ciaccia, the sewer district's executive director, said representatives from utilities across the country who gathered in Cleveland Monday as part of an industry conference are watching Cleveland's progress with interest.

The local sewer district's approach serves as a "new opportunity" to help beautify neighborhoods while managing stormwater, he said.

"It's also pretty much still an experiment in many regards," he said.