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By Katherine Baer Despite marked progress toward cleaner water over the 40-year history of the Clean Water Act, there is widespread agreement that much work is left to be done. One major gap in the protections under the landmark law is its inability to effectively reduce polluted stormwater runoff from developed and developing areas. This growing source of pollution from urbanized areas and the resulting growth in impervious surfaces continues to plague our rivers and streams across the country. The US ...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Regulatory Issues, Research
By Steve Goldberg Theoretically, rainwater harvesting and reuse has a number of tangible benefits: * It’s a free source of water that can be obtained with something as simple and inexpensive as a rain barrel collecting rooftop runoff. * It can reduce the load on stormwater systems, which can in turn result in fewer pollutants entering local bodies of water. * It can decrease the use of potable municipal water for nonpotable needs. * A lot of energy is required to obtain, clean, and transport water; if d...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: BMP Manufactured, BMP Post Construction, Low-impact Development
By Eric Woolson Low-impact-development stormwater management approaches are gaining in popularity and are being increasingly written into permitting requirements. While a number of barriers to implementation continue to come into play, advocates are finding more solutions to those obstacles, according to experts across the country. “We cannot just trumpet the wonderful qualities of LID without also hearing about the barriers, understanding them, and trying to address them,” observes Bruce Wulkan, senior...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Monitoring, Research
By Kevin Shafer I recently attended the third annual US Water Alliance’s Urban Water Sustainability Leadership Conference, the focus of which was resource recovery and green infrastructure. I left the conference even more energized by what some of our leading, “spotlight” cities are doing to promote sustainable infrastructure. What I learned is that these cities are collaborating across disciplines to integrate sustainability into their projects and are seeing powerful results. For years, grey in...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: CSOs, Low-impact Development, Regulatory Issues
By Steve Goldberg Although various forms of rainwater harvesting have been used for thousands of years, as an organized industry, it is still in its infancy. At present, no national standards are in place regulating its use, although various states and municipalities have begun promulgating laws concerning how rainwater may (or may not) be used. The rainwater harvesting industry has a national organization, the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association. It is presently headed by David Craw...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Program Management, Watershed Projects
By Carol Brzozowski The White House is placing a higher priority on stormwater and the establishment of green infrastructure to address it, say those who attended a conference on stormwater and green infrastructure last week in Washington, DC. Funding is one barrier between that increased interest and implementing initiatives. The next step will be for conference organizers to start developing a white paper detailing funding options, says conference participant Elisa Speranza, president of CH2M H...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: CSOs, Low-impact Development, Regulatory Issues
By Mark Grey, Dave Sorem, Caitlin Alexander, and Richard Boon With fourth-generation municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permits in California now requiring use of low-impact-development (LID) stormwater best management practices (BMPs) for discretionary new and redevelopment projects, the need for accurate LID BMP cost data has never been greater. Indeed, for development project proponents and the regulated MS4s, the data are fundamental both for informing the LID BMP selection process t...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Program Funding, Research
By Janice Kaspersen Stormwater managers often divide their responsibilities into two general categories: managing water quality, and managing water quantity. In the early days, “stormwater management” essentially meant “flood control” in many communities. What was in the water mattered less than that we kept it off the streets and out of people’s basements. With the Clean Water Act and NPDES permits and TMDLs came a growing concern for water quality as well. Quantity and quality can’t be separate...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Program Management, Regulatory Issues
By Margaret Buranen Minnesota’s Twin Cities had green infrastructure long before it was called that. In 1883, Minneapolis established an independent park commission. Its members were perceptive enough to hire two of the country’s best landscape architects: H. W. S. Cleveland, who had directed the Boston Park Commission, and Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York’s Central Park. The board followed their advice and bought large areas of land. Thanks to the architects’ foresight, those parks a...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Program Funding, Watershed Projects
Last summer, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Department of General Services, the city of Richmond, and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay completed a green stormwater retrofit of Virginia’s Capitol Square. As have other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Virginia has paid increasing attention to the quality and quantity of its runoff in recent years. With this project, the state government has taken the lead, demonstrating that low-impact development can be an effective...... continue reading
From: Stormwater Topics: Low-impact Development, Program Management, Project Design
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