Why is the United States EPA taking so long to write the “Stormwater Rule”?
“EPA will need to put something out soon so that all sides are at least debating a specific proposal rather than speculating on its content,” concludes Janice Kaspersen.
“EPA will need to put something out soon so that all sides are at least debating a specific proposal rather than speculating on its content,” concludes Janice Kaspersen.
“The rule proposal would expand the universe of regulated stormwater discharges, requiring new controls for newly developed and redeveloped sites and possibly even old developments. It could also expand the number of cities and towns regulated as Municipal Separate Sewer Systems (MS4s) under the Clean Water Act,” wrote Annie Snider.
“Primarily what we’re looking to do is have stormwater controls incorporated into the development and redevelopment process when we have opportunities to incorporate those cost-effective and flexible controls rather than address these urban areas after they’ve already been developed and the costs are much greater, as we’ve done in the past,” stated Chris Kloss.
“We went above and beyond by not only considering green solutions but also making preliminary plans to actually implement and test them. If the green infrastructure experiment goes well, the plan could be altered to require less grey infrastructure. Green infrastructure is far cheaper and could help mitigate project costs,” said Jim Good.
“The Canadians do appear to be ahead of the US in this field because the US EPA took a really bad approach to LID that was based on the premise that enforcing every site to the same standard would somehow fix the problems of water quality in the US,” commented Paul Crabtree.
“The guide is meant to assist communities of all types: large, small, rural, resort-based, urban, and suburban. It is designed to help maximize both creativity and adaptability to varied scales, specific contexts, and changing on-the-ground conditions,” stated Dr. Laura Tate.
By incorporating green infrastructure options with their stormwater management plans, Washington DC has become a model of sustainable infrastructure. They’re saving money and resources, while fulfilling the EPA consent decree, reports George Hawkins.
“The workshop demonstrated how local government practioners in Metro Vancouver are meeting the challenge of moving from planning to action. By bringing people together to share their experiences, we believe effective implementation of the design with nature principles can be addressed through practical changes,” Paul Ham stated.
“Problems are the legacy of our obsolete 19th century stormwater management system – a system that fails to respect natural systems and water cycles. However, rainwater management practices have recently been developed that make the 21st century Green City possible,” conclude Calvin Sandborn.
“Whenever possible, we should be looking for ways to better manage our stormwater with natural processes and leveraging our drainage investmentsSeattle residents and businesses care about the environment. And that’s why we are inviting the whole community to join us in this effort,” said Mayor Mike McGinn.