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Stormwater Management
In This Section
Stormwater management is an increasingly important component of EPA’s strategy to reduce its environmental footprint.
What Is Stormwater Management?
Stormwater is rainwater and melted snow that runs off streets, lawns, farms, and construction and industrial sites. Under natural conditions, stormwater is absorbed into the ground, where it is filtered and ultimately replenishes aquifers or slowly flows through forests and meadows into streams and rivers.
In developed areas, however, impervious surfaces such as pavement and building roofs prevent precipitation from naturally soaking into the ground. Instead, the water runs rapidly into storm drains, sewer systems, and drainage ditches. The resulting rush of stormwater discharge can cause infrastructure damage, downstream flooding, and stream bank erosion. In addition, the bacteria and other pollutants not filtered from stormwater can contaminate watersheds and coastal waters.
Stormwater management addresses these concerns through a variety of techniques, including strategic site design, measures to control the sources of runoff, and thoughtful landscape planning.
Low Impact Development
Low impact development (LID) is a comprehensive stormwater management and site design technique. LID focuses on sustainable practices aimed at restoring natural watershed functions through small-scale treatment at the source of runoff. Within the LID framework, the goal of any construction project is to design a hydrologically functional site that mimics predevelopment conditions. Learn more about LID.
Some other terms that are associated with stormwater management and LID include:
- Wet weather green infrastructure
Wet weather green infrastructure encompasses approaches and technologies to infiltrate, evapotranspire, capture, and reuse stormwater to maintain or restore natural hydrologies.
- Integrated Management Practices
Integrated Management Practices (IMPs) refer to best practices and small-scale implementation measures used to achieve LID.
EPA and Stormwater Management
At facilities across the country, EPA employs a full spectrum of stormwater management practices to reduce the impact of Agency activities on the hydrology of local watersheds and to meet the requirements set out in the Energy and Independence Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and in Executive Order (E.O.) 13423.
EPA's approach to stormwater management is driven by internal goals and federal requirements. To meet its requirements, EPA has developed strategies that guide the stormwater-related actions EPA takes, including LID stormwater management projects at its facilities. The projects produce results such as reductions in site runoff volumes and increased stormwater quality, which ultimately lead to more sustainable facilities. Learn more about stormwater management.