Reducing Stormwater Costs through LID Strategies and Practices

One of the most exciting new trends in water quality management today is the movement by many cities, counties, states, and private-sector developers toward the increased use of Low Impact Development (LID) to help protect and restore water quality. However, while the increase in application of these practices is growing rapidly, data regarding both the effectiveness of these practices and their costs remain limited. This presentation will focus on the latter issue and will show that LID approaches and practices can provide significant cost savings and reductions compared to conventional development techniques. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a new document, "Reducing Stormwater Costs through LID Strategies and Practices" that provides information that will assist communities and practitioners in their efforts to promote and implement LID. This 30-page publication summarizes 17 case studies from the United States and Canada and directly compares the costs of LID to traditional approaches in the context of new developments, including 8 subdivisions, a corporate campus, an apartment building, streets, and other common modes of development.