WERF: Strategies for Integrated Stormwater Management to Protect Receiving Waters

This WERF project assumes that the focus is on receiving water (both surface and groundwater) health and that protecting the receiving water from damage due to excess flow and pollutant loadings is the primary concern of stormwater management. This is the exact opposite of current stormwater management – where the focus is on the site – but with the same goal. Current stormwater management assumes that the site should be developed so that the surface receiving water “sees” no change in rate and volume after development of the entire site. Current stormwater management also generally assumes that mimicking pre-development hydrology will address many of the problems currently associated with post-development pollutant discharges. The focus on the receiving water assumes that most stormwater and its pollutants will be controlled as close to the source as possible, that treatment trains will be employed where necessary, and that stormwater control devices will be designed to evaluate their ability to treat both water quantity and water quality.