FLOOD03407

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Stormwater Management in the United States - A Study of Intsitutionl Problems, Solutions and Impacts
• Date: 9/1/1980
• Prepared By: Office of Water Research and Technology
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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FOREWORD

Owners of real property and administrators of public tax
dollars have made large investments in stormwater control and
related improvements. Significant progress can be made in
preserving and enhancing these investments and protecting pub-
lic health and natural resources. Planning, design and manage-
ment of stormwater systems should be coordinated closely with
other major systems serving urban and suburban communities.
There is a need for developing masterplans and adopting modern
concepts and practices to optimize expenditures and improve
the effectiveness of runoff control systems.

Realistic programs should be implemented on federal, state
and local levels for financing the huge public and private ex-
penditures required for control of stormwater runoff. Such
programs should be tied to approved masterplans and include
funding to construct new facilities, correct deficiencies in
existing systems, and provide proper system maintenance. The
programs should be far-reaching in scope, continuous, and re-
sponsive to current and future needs.

In many places, the general public has an incomplete under-
standing of, and only a passive interest in, the decisions that
are made by public officials concerning stormwater management.
They should be more cognizant of how taxes and other local
revenues are allocated and used to provide solutions to prob-
lems associated with urban runoff. Ongoing pUblic information
programs need to be developed for taxpayers and voters to
facilitate an understandin~ of stormwater problems, proposed
solutions, long-range plans, and their costs and benefits.

Some elected and appointed officials of local and state
governments, quasi-public agencies, and federal agencies also
need to be better informed. They should be indoctrinated on
the need for, and means of, developing comprehensive storm-
water control systems and programs, and the long-term conse-
quences of outmoded facilities.

This pUblication is intended to provide much of the inform-
ation needed for developing and improving stormwater manage-
ment programs and systems in urban, suburban and metropolitan
areas.

Herbert G. Poertner

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