The Environmental Protection Agency has recently introduced a desktop computer application that estimates the amount of rain and the frequency of stormwater runoff at specific sites anywhere in the United States. The “National Stormwater Calculator” pulls information from national databases on soil type, rainfall, evaporation and other variables in order to provide the estimate. Users input data on the site’s land cover, as well as current or proposed controls on stormwater runoff, such as rain gardens, porous pavement, and street planters. The calculator allows users to see what effects these and other low-impact development (LID) controls would have on runoff, one of the leading causes of pollution in local waterways and ecosystems.
As we have previously blogged, both the City and County of Greenville have recently adopted new initiatives that seek to address stormwater runoff by incentivizing LID controls. Given these new programs, developers, landscape architects, urban planners, and others in the Upstate may well find the Calculator a useful tool.
Download the National Stormwater Calculator and find more information about it here.
