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July 21, 2005
"We do the water first"
"We do the water first." That is how the renowned German stormwater designer, Herbert Dreiseitl summarizes his approach to stormwater management. Speaking at the 12th conference of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Chicago in June 2004, Mr. Dreiseitl illustrated his unique blend of art and engineering in settings both urban and suburban. His experience in complying with long-standing European requirements that runoff be reduced or eliminated provided a useful confirmation to his American audience that it is not only possible to preserve pre-development hydrology, but that compliance can be interesting and beautiful.
EPA’s Phase II program is being implemented by the states to cover sites as small as one acre, requiring that post-development runoff be controlled for most of the rain storms that occur in an average year. This change of emphasis – from controlling peak flow rate to controlling runoff volume – is probably the most significant change in water management requirements for land developments in the past thirty years. Gradually, as the states develop their programs, local governments will have to incorporate the new stormwater management requirements into their development rules. During this transition period, which will probably last for a year or more, site designers will have to meet both the evolving state requirements and the existing local regulations, resolving the inevitable conflicts by thoughtful application of hydrologic principles.
Stormwater management concepts should be sketched out at the earliest stage of site planning to allow the natural site hydrologic features to function as much as possible on the developed project. This approach is a significant change from thirty years of civil / site design practice, which dealt with getting the water off the site with inlets and pipes.
To see some of the imaginative projects designed by Atelier Dreiseitl, visit http://www.dreiseitl.com
Posted by aquacura.com at July 21, 2005 07:57 PM