Controlling Storm-Water Runoff with Tradable Allowances for Impervious Surfaces
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 129, Issue 5
Abstract
Storm-water flow from an impervious surface can lead to stream degradation, habitat alteration, low base flows, and increased toxic loadings from nonpoint sources, a problem that has resisted traditional command and control regulatory approaches. We explore the thesis that a well-designed, tradable runoff allowance system can create economic incentives for landowners to employ low-cost runoff management practices to reduce excess stormwater flow to more ecologically sound levels. Attributes such as percent impervious surface, soil type, and so on, determine a given land parcel’s runoff potential and management alternatives and, by extension, its allowance requirements. Using a small watershed in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a case study, we show that a tradable runoff allowance system carries promise as a low-cost method for attaining reductions in storm-water runoff.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 129 • Issue 5 • September 2003
Pages: 409 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 8, 2002
Accepted: Aug 19, 2002
Published online: Aug 15, 2003
Published in print: Sep 2003
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