Stormwater Mgmt
Property Stormwater Management
Urbanization has replaced forests and meadows with buildings and pavement. Keeping rain closer to where it falls and allowing it to be absorbed into the ground reduces stormwater runoff from roofs, driveways, and parking lots, improving downstream water quality and decreasing the potential for flooding.
Stormwater management practices are used to reduce the negative impact of stormwater runoff quantity and quality.
Stormwater Management Roles and Responsibilities
The initial flow of stormwater runoff in a wet weather event carries the highest concentration of sediment washed from impervious surfaces such as roofs and driveways. By retaining this initial flush of stormwater, the concentration of sediment and nutrients being transported is reduced, improving downstream water quality. Retaining stormwater where it falls also improves flood resilience, which is a growing concern as storm severity increases with climate change. Efforts to reduce runoff are especially important in urban and suburban areas where impervious surfaces, such as pavement and roofs can generate more than 5 times the runoff than a similarly sized woodland area. US EPA Protecting Water Quality from Urban Runoff.
