Sustainable Sites Initiative: Protect On-Site Water Resources and Receiving Water Quality

The Sustainable Sites Initiative is an interdisciplinary partnership working to foster a transformation in land development and management practices. The objectives of the Initiative are to create and implement clear and rigorous design, construction, operations, and maintenance criteria to supplement existing green building and landscape guidelines and foster sustainable development. These criteria include both prerequisites and credits for certain activities, resulting in certification that a site has achieved some level of sustainability. One of the credits developed through this partnership is "Credit 3.6: Protect and Enhance On-Site Water Resources and Receiving Water Quality." This article describes the elements of this credit and describes the logic behind their development. The primary components include source control, maintenance considerations, and the level of treatment of stormwater on-site. Point values are assigned based on the volume of annual runoff treated.