Federal Stormwater Management Requirements

In This Section

The following federal requirements drive EPA and other federal agencies to practice stormwater management and implement sustainable stormwater practices:

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA)
Technical Guidance on Implementing the Stormwater Runoff Requirements for Federal Projects under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and Section 438
Executive Order 13514
Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings

Learn about earlier federal stormwater management requirements.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA)

Section 438 of EISA instructs federal agencies to "use site planning, design, construction, and maintenance strategies for the property to maintain or restore, to the maximum extent technically feasible, the predevelopment hydrology of the property with regard to the temperature, rate," for any project with a footprint that exceeds 5,000 square feet.

Read the full text of EISA (310 pp, 821K, About PDF).

Technical Guidance on Implementing the Stormwater Runoff Requirements for Federal Projects under Section 438 of EISA

EPA's Office of Water (OW) coordinated the development of these federal guidelines and issued Technical Guidance on Implementing the Stormwater Runoff Requirements for Federal Projects under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act on December 4, 2009. View the stormwater management guidance (PDF) (63 pp, 2.5MB).

Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance

Executive Order (EO) 13514 reiterates the requirement of EO 13423 that federal agencies implement the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings (Guiding Principles) in at least 15 percent of their existing buildings by the end of FY 2015. Section 2(g) of EO 13514 calls for agencies to "implement high performance sustainable federal building design, construction, operation and management, maintenance, and deconstruction." It instructs federal agencies to develop and implement strategies:

Ensuring that all new construction, major renovation, or repair and alteration of Federal buildings complies with the Guiding Principles.
Ensuring that at least 15 percent of the agency’s existing buildings (above 5,000 gross square feet) and building leases (above 5,000 gross square feet) meet the Guiding Principles by fiscal year 2015 and that the agency makes annual progress toward 100-percent conformance with the Guiding Principles for its building inventory.

Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings

The Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings (Guiding Principles), which incorporate requirements from EISA, require agencies to employ design and construction strategies that reduce stormwater runoff, polluted site water runoff, and the use of potable water for irrigation. They promote the use of decentralized stormwater management design strategies to maintain or restore site hydrology to pre-development conditions and promote water-efficient landscaping and irrigation strategies.

The Guiding Principles, last revised on December 1, 2008, contain two sets of principles: one for new construction and major renovation of buildings, the other for existing buildings. The new building principles focus primarily on design and construction, while the existing building principles emphasize sustainable operations, maintenance, and management.

Guiding Principle III, Protect and Conserve Water, is present in both the new construction and major renovations set of Guiding Principles and the existing buildings set of Guiding Principles, and in both sets it contains the following language regarding stormwater management:

"Employ design and construction strategies that reduce storm water runoff and discharges of polluted water offsite. Per EISA Section 438, to the maximum extent technically feasible, maintain or restore the predevelopment hydrology of the site with regard to temperature, rate, volume, and duration of flow using site planning, design, construction, and maintenance strategies."