Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth
Growth and development can adversely affect water resources by building over woodlands, meadows, and wetlands and increasing polluted runoff. More impermeable cover, along with vehicle traffic, also harms water quality and can reduce water quantity. To address these and other effects, local governments are developing smarter approaches to growth. They are using policies and tools to enhance existing neighborhoods, improve schools, protect drinking water, and provide attractive housing and transportation choices.
Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth (pdf) (2004) is for communities, local governments, state and regional planners, and other audiences already familiar with smart growth who are seeking more ideas for protecting water resources. The document compiles 75 policies designed to protect water resources and implement smart growth strategies. Forty-six of these policies are oriented to the watershed or regional level, while the other 29 target specific development sites.
Learn more about smart growth and water.