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On January 20, 2005, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted sustainability as a core value for all California Water Boards’ activities and programs, and directed California Water Boards’ staff to consider sustainability in all future policies, guidelines, and regulatory actions. Low Impact Development (LID) is a sustainable practice that benefits water supply and contributes to water quality protection. Unlike traditional stormwater management, which collects and conveys storm water runoff through storm drains, pipes, or other conveyances to a centralized storm water facility, LID takes a different approach by using site design and storm water management to maintain the site’s pre-development runoff rates and volumes. The goal of LID is to mimic a site’s predevelopment hydrology by using design techniques that infiltrate, filter, store, evaporate, and detain runoff close to the source of rainfall. LID has been a proven approach in other parts of the country and is seen in California as an alternative to conventional storm water management. The Water Boards are advancing LID in California in various ways:
- Funding LID projects through the Division of Financial Assistance;
- Funding through CWA 319 funds to provide for further researching applicability of Impervious Surface Analysis Tool (ISAT) for land use planners and for the California Water and Land Use partnership (CaWaLUP) Center at U.C. Davis;
- Regulation through site-specific and general permits;
- Providing advocacy and outreach to local governments through the Water Board's Training Academy and regional workshops; and
- Researching how to incorporate LID language in to Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plan (SUSMP) requirements.
- California LID Policy Review
The Water Boards are key partners of the CaWaLUP, a collaborative effort made up of representative staff from government agencies, non profits, and academia, which aims to improve how water resource implications of land use are considered in California’s local government decisions. For more information please go to http://cawalup.usc.edu/.
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