Low-Impact Development in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Army Case Studies, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

In 1998, the U.S. Army learned a new way of thinking regarding stormwater management. This innovativestormwater management philosophy, low-impact development (LID), employs methods such as bioretention, pervious pavement reduction, green roofs, and conservation to mimic the predevelopment hydrologic regime. As a landholder in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoff is a continuing issue, the Army wants to encourage the use of LID on its lands. The U.S. Army Environmental Center (USAEC) manages the day-to-day operations of the Army's Chesapeake Bay Program. In an effort to meet the program's goals of reducing nutrients and toxics, the USAEC worked with the Prince George's County, Maryland, Department of Environmental Resources (DER) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to design and install the first Army, Department of Defense (DoD), and federal agency LID demonstration project. This project included two bioretention areas at Fort Meade, Maryland, and was received enthusiastically by both the local and military community in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Fueled by this enthusiasm, the USAEC launched additional LID projects in the Bay watershed and developed a training program designed to teach installation staff not only about LID and various LID tools and techniques, but also how to incorporate LID into installation plans, guidelines, and specifications and how LID fits into other programs and policies. The Army LID training also focuses on combining LID with conservation design to further minimize the impacts of development on the environment. These workshops were expanded to installations outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and have resulted in installation-funded LID projects.