Monitoring-Based Annual Water Balances as Targets for Minimal Impact Development

As the environment comes under increasing stresses, typical low impact development goals are no longer suitably ambitious targets. Standard stormwater management focuses on mitigating peak discharges or runoff volumes resulting from storms with specific recurrence intervals. More appropriate designs mimic natural processes such that post-construction water balances and annual hydrographs closely approximate their pre-construction states. Sonoma Mountain Village, a 200-acre planned residential and commercial community 40 miles north of San Francisco, seeks to minimize the impact it will have on the hydrologic cycle through its adherence to a thorough site baseline monitoring program which informs innovative engineering design.