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<br />031323 <br /> <br />Chapter I <br />INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY <br /> <br />Summary of the Drainage Problem in Urbanizing Communities <br />Urbanization transforms agricultural and natural environments into <br />residential and commercial developments. This transformation alters the <br />stormwater runoff response of the urbanizing watershed which, in turn, <br />increases stormwater damages downstream. The municipal engineers of <br />some 2,000 rapidly growing communities across the country are beginning <br />to recognize the severity of these changes, and their responsibility to <br />accommodate them. Unfortunately, they have had limited success in <br />implementing programs to manage these development-induced drainage <br />impacts. <br />More than just a few communities have found themselves studying and <br />restudying the same drainage basins without ever establishing any kind <br />of drainage management program. The appropriation of money for drainage <br />studies indicates that these communities recognize the existence of <br />drainage and flood control problems. Why does the community stall at <br />the study phase? What is causing the delay in implementing a program <br />for managing the drainage impacts of community growth? In the writers' <br />opinion, the delay stems from the uncertainties in the three principal <br />elements of any drainage management program: 1) the Technical element <br />which establishes the method of flood hydrology calculation, 2) the j <br />Financial element which establishes the methods for drainage and flood <br />control cost calculation and cost allocation, and 3) the Regulatory <br />element which establishes the enforcement mechanism of the drainage <br />management program. The prevalent uncertainties in these areas are as <br />follows: <br />