Stormwater: Better Site Design Practices

Better Site Design describes a series of innovative stormwater management practices.  Many of these practices focus on the basic principles of stormwater management: reduction of impervious surfaces and protection of vegetation.  Impervious surfaces include roads, driveways, rooftops, and parking lots.  The more impervious surfaces we create, the more stormwater we have to deal with.  Better Site Design calls for redesign of roads and cul-de-sacs and incorporation of porous pavement in parking lots.  Another basic tenet of stormwater management and Better Site Design is protection of vegetation.  When vegetation is removed from a site, stormwater runoff tends to increase.  Vegetation helps to collect and treat stormwater to prevent flooding and pollution.  Construction phasing can go a long way toward reducing stormwater runoff by simply protecting existing vegetation or by seeding areas that are temporarily idle.  For more information about Better Site Design practices, please visit http://www.stormwater.net/.