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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STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCIES

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Goals, Objectives and Approaches

Officials of progressive urban governments and public agencies in all parts of
the United States are studying ways to develop and implement sound stormwater manage-
ment programs. Their overall goals are to solve existing runoff control problems
and prevent new problems from arising as urbanization proceeds. Their studies
address the establishment of effective, economical and practical policies, objec-
tives, laws and regulations together with a means for enforcement thereof. Gener-
ally, public officials feel that serious problems of flooding, erosion, sedimenta~
tion and water pollution can be solved and controlled. In most communities, objec-
tives of stormwater management agencies emphasize short-term, single-purpose pro-
jects for prompt solution of existing problems. In some localities, stormwater
management objectives encompass long-term program development along with projects
for correction of existing problems.

Governments in some large cities and urban counties have established goals,
policies and program development objectives based upon consideration of the needs
in entire watersheds. Cook County, Illinois, Metropolitan Denver,and Fairfax County,
Virginia are prime examples. An areawide or regional approach has been undertaken
in a few. places. Metropolitan Denver is probably the best example of the applica-
tion of the watershed approach over an entire metropolitan area, using uniform cri-
teria developed by the Denver Regional Council of Governments. In the Atlanta Metro-
politan area, the City of Atlanta and the Counties of Fulton and DeKalb formed the
"DeKalb, Atlanta, Fulton Joint Flood Abatement Coordination Committee", in April
1975, to deal with their common problems in stormwater management. This agreement,
a summary of which is included in Appendix C, points out the need for information
exchange, identification of problems and issues requiring solution--and provides
for cooperative approaches between the local governments involved.

Mu1tiple-purpose Approaches

The development of multiple-purpose projects has been given much attention in
some places during recent years. Combining stormwater control facilities with parks
and recreational developments, greenways, forest and wildlife preserves, groundwater
recharge areas, and irrigation systems is being investigated in many places, and is
practiced in various locations across the country. The Cook County Forest Preserve
District, in Illinois, is probably the best example of an agency that combines flood-
plain preservation extensively with its primary objectives. This agency is the
largest landholder in the Chicago metropolitan area. About four percent of the land
owned by the District lies in the floodplains of most of the major waterways tra-
versing Cook County. Along the Des Plaines River alone, approximately 2,600 acres
are District-owned. The long-established policy of the District calls for conser-
vation and preservation of forests and lands to protect and enhance flora, fauna
and scenic beauty in their natural states for the purposes of public education,
pleasure and recreation. The District's facilities are used extensively by several
million persons in Greater Chicago. Several other counties in Northeastern Illinois
have forest preserve districts which function much the same as that in Cook County,
Each plays a major role in control of flood damages in Metropolitan Chicago and in
outlying urban areas.

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