Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2007NY92B

Best management practices for managing stormwater runoff from developing areas in the Hudson catchment

Institute: New York
Year Established: 2007 Start Date: 2007-03-01 End Date: 2008-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $14,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $23,750

Principal Investigators: Tammo Steenhuis, Brian Richards

Project Summary: The management and treatment of stormwater runoff in urbanized and developing areas with substantial impermeable surface coverage presents a major challenge. Increasing quantities of runoff are generated from impermeable surfaces (roofs and pavement), yet the number of locations for adequate runoff storage and treatment are diminished as development proceeds. There are a wide variety of best management practices (BMPs) available to help manage storm water runoff. Structural BMPs include retention basins, rain gardens, filter strips, and devices to remove oil and grease from runoff, while non-structural BMPs involve operational and management techniques that can limit adverse impacts of stormwater. Economical and ecologically sound BMPs are essential to managing the adverse effects of development on stormwater-related peak flows and pollutant loadings to surface waters. We anticipate that our work will help achieve this combination by providing in-field evaluative data on the performance of commercially-implemented structural and non-structural BMPs. The results will provide an improved understanding of the effectiveness of these technologies for the management and treatment of urban and suburban storm water runoff. The benefits may be substantial in that the volume and peak flow rates of contaminated urban storm water runoff discharged to receiving surface water bodies can be reduced, the contaminants in the stormwater can be removed or treated, that improved recharge to underlying groundwater can be achieved beneath the impermeable surfaced areas, and that BMPs can be attractively integrated into open space areas.