Stormwater Impacts and Management
Seattle PI - Urban Stormwater & Salmon
Seattle’s stormwater-polluted streams are no chum to coho salmon
Tualatin Riverkeepers - Low Impact Development - Examples from the Tualatin BasinNew website by the Tualatin Riverkeepers profiles Low Impact Development in the Tualatin River Watershed
Metro - Greenstreets HandbookThe Greenstreets Handbook describes stormwater management strategies and includes detailed illustrations of “green” street designs that allow infiltration and limit stormwater runoff.
Center for Watershed Protection - Impacts of Impervious Cover on Aquatic SystemsThe Center for Watershed Protection’s comprehensive exploration of more than 225 multi-disciplinary studies documenting the hydrological, physical, water quality, and biological impacts of urbanization and its accompanying impervious cover.
Stormwater/Pavement Impacts Reduction (SPIR) Project ReportFile size: 3 Meg
The SPIR Project Report reviewed municipal code, planning language, and design standards for jurisdictions in Washington County to identify impediments to reducing the impacts of stormwater run-off. It provides feasible recommendations that will reduce stormwater runoff, stomrwater pollution, and negative impacts to local stream channels.
Paved Paradise?Impervious Surfaces affect a region’s hydrology, ecosystems- even its climate. This is a great article summarizing the environmental impacts of sprawl and associated increases in imprevious surfaces on water quality, aquatic habitat, and urban heat-island affect.
Effects of Stormwater Runnoff from New DevelopmentEffects of Stormwater Runnoff from New Development by University of Alabama researcher Dr. Robert Pitt shows “clearly and convincingly both the nature and the magnitude of water quality and quantity prioblems that poorly planned and managed new develoment can create.”
Assessment of Macroinvertebrates CommunitiesAssessment of Macroinvertebrates Communities in Relation to Land Use, Physical Habitat, and Water Quality in the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon prepared for Clean Water Services by Micheal Cole examines the health of the Tualatin River and its tributaries using macroinvertebrates as biological indicators of water quality and aquatic health. This study documents a link between land-use changey and the health of aquatic habitat in the Tualatin Basin.
Fanno/Tryon Creek Watershed PlanningPortland’s Fanno/Tryon Creek Watershed Planning core team has added extensive information regarding the planning process for the portions of these two watersheds that lie within the city of Portland. The plan addresses stream flow, water quality, pollution prevention, stewardship and other watershed health issues.
Forest Cover, Impervious-surface Area, and the Mitigation of Urbanization Impacts in King County, WashingtonAn excellent summary paper by Derek Booth from University of Washington that “focuses on changes in hydrology, because hydrologic processes dominate the formation and functioning of aquatic habitat, and because these changes are ubiquitous in urban settings.”