Retaining and Reusing Stormwater

Advancements in Rainwater Reuse efforts made by organizations such as the Low Impact Development Center and the Center for Watershed Protection:

♦ Rain gardens or rooftop plants

♦ Cisterns to collect rainwater

♦ Reuse of stormwater for toilet-flushing, irrigation, and other non-potable uses

♦ Low-impact development designs for subdivisions, which allow for stormwater retention and filtering onsite

Decentralized stormwater systems enhance water quality protection in two ways.  First, it reduces the impact of new development of alternative water infrastructure in rural and suburban areas.  Secondly, it reduces stormwater overflows and runoff in urban areas with combined sewers.

Stormwater Management

Stormwater runoff is defined as runoff generated from all urban surfaces while rooftop rainwater is generally synonymous with the runoff collected from rooftops (Hatt et al., 2006). In urban areas soil sealing reduces stormwater infiltration and groundwater recharge. Consequently, the generation of stormwater run-off increases substantially (Burns et al., 2005).

New approaches —named water sensitive urban design (WSUD) in Australia and low impact development (LID) in the United States— are emerging with the objective of promoting stormwater reuse as well as source control microscale solutions such as rainwater harvesting systems, ponds, wetlands, green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavements, and other infiltration techniques (Brown, 2005).

However, the widespread extension of these measures is still hampered by a series of multi-dimensional impediments. Roy et al. (2008: 344) identify the following barriers to the adoption of source-control measures: uncertainties in performance and cost; insufficient engineering standards and guidelines; fragmented responsibilities; lack of institutional capacity; lack of legislative mandate; lack of funding, and effective marked incentives, and resistance to change.