LID Policy Innovations for Watershed Management in Retrofitting an Ultra-Urban Infrastructure: Addressing Water Quantity and Quality Challenges

The City of Santa Monica's integrated Watershed Management Program requires post-construction Best Management Practices (BMPs) for construction projects to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff (rainwater harvesting) and pollution, and to improve runoff quality entering the Santa Monica Bay. While the city's watershed management program has been and continues to be hugely successful in promoting Low Impact Development (LID) strategies for individual parcel projects, the transportation grid is a difficult area to incorporate BMPs. Transportation infrastructure is less manageable than an individual parcel and involves other complexities of development, such as underground utilities, drainage grade changes, parkways, and traffic flow. To demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating the LID strategy in an ultra-urban, built-out setting, Santa Monica built a green street. Additional strategies for the transportation grid are also being applied throughout the city in a long-term project-oriented plan funded by the city's Clean Beaches and Ocean parcel fee. This paper will discuss efforts to implement LID strategies throughout the transportation infrastructure, which can become the new standard for urban infrastructure redevelopment in addressing challenges facing urban runoff management.