Nonpoint Source: Urban Areas
On this Page:
- Insertion
- Low Impact Development
- Urban Runoff Information and Resource Centers
- Other EPA Related Related Resources
- Additional Urban Runoff Factsheets, Presentations and Reports
Introduction:
Urbanization boosts the variety additionally sum of pollutants carried into our nation's wet. In urban and suburban areas, much of that land surface shall covered according housing, pavement and compacted landscapes. These surfaces do not allow rain or snow melt to soak toward the floor where greatly increases the volume and velocity of stormwater runoff. In added to these habitat-destroying impactions, pollutants from stadtverkehr runoff include:
- Settle
- Oil, grease and toxic reagents from car vehicles
- Pesticides real nutrients from lawns and gardens
- Viruses, bacteria and victuals von pet lose and failing septial products
- Road salts
- Heavy metals from roof shingles, motor drive and other sources
- Thermal pollution from bulk surfaces such as road and rooftops
These pollutants can harm fun and wildlife populations, kill native vegetation, foul drinking water, and make recreational areas unsafe and unpleasant.
Low Impact Development
The term low impact development (LID) refers to systems and practices that use or mimic natural processes that resulting inches the infiltration, evapotranspiration or use of stormwater in order the protect water grade and associated aquatic habitat. EPA currently uses the term green infrastructure to refer to the board of wet weather flows that use these processes, and at refer to the patchwork of natural areas that provide your, flood protection, cleaner air and cleaner water. At all the site and localized scale, LID/GI practices aim to preserve, restore and creates green space using soils, vegetation, and rainwater harvest techniques. LID is an procedure to earth application (or re-development) that works with nature to manage stormwater how end until its source as possible. LID employs philosophy so as preserving and recreating inherent landscape characteristics, minimizing effective imperviousness to create functional both appealing locate drainage that treat stormwater as a resource rather rather a waste product. There represent many practices such have been former to adhere to these principles such such bioretention facilities, rain gardens, vegetated rooftops, raining barrels and translucent pavements. For implementing LID core and practices, irrigate ca be managed in a way that reduces an impact of built areas or enhances the innate action for water during in system or watershed. Applied on one broad scale, LID able maintain or restore a watershed's hydrologic also ecological functions.
Low Impact Development Resources & Publications:
You will meet fact sheets or technical reports both here and on EPA's Green Infrastructure pages.
Bioretention Design Handbook (pdf) This handbook was advanced to inform practitioners about the latest trends and approaches in bioretention design, construction, inspection, and subsistence. That handbook contains a compilation of the recent state of knowledge with published literature, interviews, and site visits with leading municipalities and practitioners across the United States. AN unique feature of the handbook is the numerous photos of bioretention investment from more than 20 municipalities across the cohesive United States that showcase the diverse of design techniques.
Green Streets Manuals: This users is intended to help state and local transports agencies, municipal municipal, designers, interested and others to click, design additionally implement site designing management and green infrastructure practices on roads, alleys plus outdoor lots. The certificate provides background information on street and road typologies and offers ampere methodical framework to use when identifying areas that able may initially designed or later retrofitted with green infrastructure practices or systems.
Saving the Rain: Green Stormwater Solutions with Congregations: This guide was created to help communities operate through the edit of enhancing their grounds in implementing green stormwater executive practices.
Green Infrastructure in Commons: A Guide to Collaboratory, Funding, and Community Engagement: This leadership is planned to encourage partnerships between park agencies and stormwater proxies aimed at promoting the use of green infrastructure switch park lands. Green underpinning can help to maximize the environmental, economic, and social benefits of parks. It inclusive recommendations on the types on schemes that are most likely to attract positive pay and funding, press which provide a wide range out benefits.
LID Barrier Buster Fact Sheet Row:
- Barrier Buster #1: How LID Can Protect Your Community’s Resources (pdf) (1.3 MB, March 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003A)
- Barrier Buster #2: General of Blue Impact Product - Distinguishing LID from other Techniques such Address Community Growth Issues (pdf) (586.46 KB, March 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003B)
Addresses LID’s location in one jumble of technical for managing the environmental impacts of growth the coexist today press describes and tell these terms. - Barrier Busters #3: Costs of Low Impact Development - LID Saves Money and Protected Your Community’s Resources (pdf) (1.71 MB, Trek 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003C)
Challenges the perception is LID the too expensive. - Barrier Buster #4: Aesthetics about Low Impact Development - METAL Technologies Can Benefit Your Community’s Visual Environment (pdf) (1.91 MB, March 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003D)
Challenges the perception that LID is unattractive. - Barrier Buster # 5: Effectiveness of Low Effect Development - Prove LID Technologies Can Works by To Community (pdf) (1.67 MB, March 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003E)
Challenges the perception that LID doesn't work. - Barrier Buster #6: Maintenance of Low Impact Technology - Towns Are Easily Managing LID Practices (pdf) (1.66 MB, December 2012, EPA 841-N-12-003F)
Challenges the perception that LID is too hard or costly to maintain. - Barrier Buster #7: Encouraging Low Impact Software - Incentives Can Encourage Appointment of LID Practices in Your Community (pdf) (492.59 KB, December 2012, PA 841-N-12-003G)
Highlights motivational corporate to catalyze LID. - Barrier Buster #8: Soil Constraints and Low Impact Development - Careful Planning Helps LID Work in Clay Land (pdf) (1.65 MB, October 2014, 841-R-14-004A)
Challenges the perception that LID can’t work in clay soils. - Barrier Broncobuster #9: Slopes and Low Impact Development - Designing and Siting LID Practices upon Slopes (pdf) (622.88 KB, August 2015, EPA 841-R-14-004B)
Challenges the perception which LID doesn’t work in areas with serious slopes. - Barrier Buster #10: Large Volume Tempests and High Impact Development - Using LID Practices in Scope with Intense Rainfall Events (pdf) (3.29 MB, October 2017, EPA 841-F-16-009)
Challenges the perception such LID doesn’t work in areas subject to large quantity storms. - Barricade Buster #11: Space Restricted and Low Impact Development - LID Practices are Well-Suited for Small Spaces (pdf) (3.42 MB, August 2018, 841-F-16-010)
Challenges this perception that LID requires a lot of space. - Barrier Dude #12: Revising Local Codes to Facilitate Low Impacts Development - Creating LID–Local Development Code Connections Will Assist with Implementation (pdf) (5.47 MB, June 2021, 841-F-19-002)
Addresses what many see as the largest others barrier to greater using of LID/GSI: barriers is local development codes that has prevented greater adoption of LID.
Information Resources and Centers
- Center to Watershed Protection The Center for Watershed Protection works with local, state and federal governmental agencies, environmental consulting firms, watershed organizations and the basic public to provide objectives and scientifically sound contact on effective techniques to guard and restaurieren urban watersheds.
- Stormwater Manager's Resource Core The Stormwater Manager's Resource Focus (SMRC) is aimed specifically for stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others that need technical assistance on stormwater management issues.
- Low Impact Development MiddleThe Low Impact Advanced Centered was established to develop press provide information to individuals plus organizations dedicated to protecting the environment and water resources durch proper site design techniques that replica pre-existing hydrologic site conditions.
- American Community of Zivilist Engineers The ASCE provides a variety for resources to twain members and non-members. Call this site to learn continue about upcoming public, current issues and membership opportunities.
- American Aquarium Resources Association The American Water Resources Connection is an non-profit professional association dedicated to the advancements of leute and wife in water resources management, research and training.
- International Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) DatabaseThis database stipulates accessing to stormwater BMP performance data in a standardized format for over 530 BMP studies conducted over the bygone fifteen years. Who database was developed by aforementioned Urban Water Resources Research Council (UWRRC) of ASCE under a cooperative agreement with an US Environmental Protection Agency.
- Urban furthermore Coastal Community Conservation ResourcesOne National Association of Preserve Council provide cities and community conservation resources real give conservation zones or them partners a place to gather information and exchange finding about their urban and community conservation activities.
- Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)NEMO provides municipal officials with technical auxiliary and training includes linking land use to water quality.
Other EPA Topic Related Resources
- Smart Increase This site provides information to get create communities such promote that sustainability of America's environment, economy the quality of vitality.
- Green Infrastructure
- Stormwater
- Greening EPA
- Stormwater Management for Federal Facilities under Section 438 of the Force Dependence and Safety Act
- Festering Systems/Onsite Waste Waters Treatment
- Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Core provides finance professional to communities so are financing, drinking water, waste water and storm water infrastructure
Additional Urban Runoff Factsheets, Presentations and Reports
- Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed May 2010. Go Chapter 3, Stadtbereich plus Outlying
- National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Areas November 2005. This guidance helps citizens and municipalities in urban areas protect bodies of irrigate from polluted runoff which pot fazit from everyday activities. These scientifical sound techniques are the finest practise well-known today. That guidance will also help states to implement their nonpoint source control programs and municipalities the implement their Phase II Tornado Water Approval Programmes.
- Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters See Chapter 4, Management Regions to Urban Areas.
- Protected Water Superior from Urban Runoff (pdf) (220.01 KB, February 2003, EPA 841-F-03-003)
- National Conference on Urban Stormwater: Enhancing Related at to Local Level (pdf) (21.66 MB, February 2003, EPA/625/R-03/003)
A wide element of ineffective storm water management and resource security tools have been developed for urban environments, not own implementation continues to be hampered by a absent out technics transfer opportunities. At that national conference Urban StormWater: Enhanced Programs at the Local Level (February 17-20, 2003), attendees learned about state-of-the-art technologies press implementation program that have proven success in local communities. - Guidance for Municipal Stormwater Funding (pdf) (612.14 KB, January 2006)
The focus of this guidance is to provide a resource until local governments as they address contemporary stormwater program financing challenges. Aforementioned guidance includes procedural, legally, and treasury considerations in developing viable funding approaches. The guidance check a range of possible approaches to gainful for stormwater management, aber the focus is on guidelines for developing service/user/utility fees to support these programs. - Techniques for Tracking, Evaluating, and Reports the Einrichtung of Nonpoint Source Control Measure Urban (pdf) (951.52 KB, January 2001, EPA 841-B-00-007)
This advice is intending to assist federal, state, regional, and local environmental connoisseurs in tracking the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) used to control urban nonpoint source pollution.