The Stormwater Report

In urban environments, humans pave over landscapes that would otherwise absorb stormwater. However, it turns out humans are not the only species that disrupts natural hydrological processes as their habitats develop. By cutting trees, digging canals, and building dams, beaver colonies shape their forest dwellings in ways that transform flooding patterns, the local food chain, […]

Building seawalls around high-traffic coastal areas such as piers, boardwalks, and beachfronts often can provide suitable protection from storm surges, but this added security can entail a social cost. In many cases, seawalls obstruct ocean views. Even worse, while seawalls may confine floodwaters to the beach, they also can restrict convenient ocean access by pedestrians […]

This winter, the United Kingdom weathered its rainiest February in at least 150 years of records kept by the U.K. Meteorological Office (Met Office). According to the Met Office, only four months from 1862 until today had higher monthly rainfall totals than February 2020. Comparing U.K. precipitation data across centuries was, until recently, a painstaking […]

Information is more accessible today than ever before, but when searching the internet for an answer that has real consequences for the environment and public health, the quality of that information is just as important as its accessibility. The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) has released a new knowledge platform, Access Water, that offers […]

In a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology, a team of researchers from 20 countries highlight a gap in scientific knowledge about how stormwater might affect phytoplankton growth and the health of lakes and similar freshwater bodies. Because climatologists expect climate change to cause more intense and frequent storm events, the global […]

In several mountainous and high-latitude regions, one of the major consequences of climate change means that more winter precipitation falls as rain than as snow. The downtick in snowfall and uptick in rainfall is particularly impactful in much of the western U.S., where melting winter mountain snowpack makes a crucial difference for water supplies in […]

Because green infrastructure is decentralized by nature, infrastructure managers often depend on participation from community members to ensure these systems can successfully mitigate flooding and provide sought-after co-benefits. This could entail volunteering time and labor to help maintain neighborhood green infrastructure projects or contributing funding to support upkeep activities. According to a new study from […]

A look at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Atlas 14 study When stormwater professionals design projects to prevent flooding from rainfall, they need to know how much precipitation their area can expect to receive during both common rain events and exceptionally intense storms. While modeling systems are invaluable tools to help develop […]

Predicting the size and expected runoff volumes from hailstorms is notoriously difficult, according to researchers with the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Because cloud systems that produce rain often have different features than those that produce hail, conventional prediction methods often fail to yield accurate forecasts. NCAR researchers investigating the challenge of hailstorm […]

What’s the difference between a crop field and a large commercial plant nursery? As it turns out, very little — at least in terms of runoff generation. Although nurseries generally grow tree crops and ornamental plants in pots rather than fields, both field crops and nursery planters contribute to water pollution when rain washes excess […]