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Sustainable Building Program
Overview
One of the most pressing problems contributing to the decline of water quality and habitat in Puget Sound is the rapid development occurring throughout the region. The population of Puget Sound has nearly doubled since 1960 and is expected to increase from its current level of 3.8 million people to 5.2 million by 2020. As cities and suburbs expand, forestland, farmland, and wetlands are converted to commercial and residential development. This results in excessive stormwater runoff that flows off pavement and other impervious surfaces, damaging waterways and property and carrying sediment and pollutants into local streams, rivers, and Puget Sound itself. In fact, stormwater runoff was listed as one of the leading threats to Puget Sound by Governor Gregoire's Puget Sound Partnership, the new state agency charged with protecting and restoring Puget Sound.
Fortunately, with conscientious planning, there are ways to lessen the environmental impact of development. Low Impact Development (LID) is a set of practices that integrate a site's existing natural features with best management practices to mimic natural hydrology, allowing water to infiltrate into the ground instead of flowing off of pavement and other impervious surfaces into local waterways. Retaining native soil and vegetation, using natural landscaping, and small-scale hydrologic controls which slow, store, and infiltrate stormwater are all integrated into a development's infrastructure layout and site design. Rain gardens, green roofs, and pervious pavement are some of the strategies.
LID practices help to protect water quality by reducing sediment, nutrient, and toxic loads into waterways and reduce impacts to fish and wildlife habitat by preserving natural ecosystems on-site and reducing the damaging impacts of peak flows.
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The Sustainable Building Program:
Promoting Low Impact Development
Stewardship Partners is promoting Low Impact Development techniques to builders and developers throughout Puget Sound. Low Impact Development (LID), along with Green Building techniques, is gaining recognition and acceptance as an effective and economical way for growing communities to address the various environmental impacts stemming from commercial and residential development. These techniques are aimed at preserving a watershed's natural ecological functions while minimizing on-site impacts.
photo by Thor Peterson, City of Seattle
Specifically, these practices:
- maintain and enhance streamside vegetation;
- incorporate the natural site features, such as vegetation and hydrology, to manage storm water;
- employ best management practices to reduce siltation and other water quality impacts;
- minimize the use of toxic chemicals in landscaping and building;
- incorporate water and energy conservation measures;
- source sustainably-produced materials.
Using these techniques is not only a more environmentally-sensitive way to develop, but it is practical economically as well due to cost savings associated with conservation measures, decreased maintenance needs, lower probability of costly stormwater damage, and marketability of green buildings and homes. Stewardship Partners has produced a set of "Low Impact Development and Architectural Guidelines for the Nisqually Watershed" and is working with community partners to promote their adoption as a means to curb the environmental impacts associated with new building while simultaneously promoting sustainable economic developments.
photo (l) by Tracy Tackett,
photo (r) by Bruce Wulkan,
Puget Sound Partnership
The LID guidelines for the Nisqually watershed can be downloaded here:
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Focus on Rain Gardens
As part of promoting low impact development, Stewardship Partners is working to encourage the use of rain gardens in residential development in Pierce County and around Puget Sound and to educate the public about their importance. Rain gardens, an important part of LID, collect water running off of impervious surfaces and allow it to filter back into the groundwater, instead of running onto driveways and roads and collecting pollutants. Rain gardens also filter sediments and pollution from the water. Furthermore, they are a feasible improvement that many landowners can make to their property, whereas LID typically is only applicable to new developments. Rain gardens have the potential to make a significant difference in the stormwater pollution and are relatively inexpensive and easy to implement.
For more information contact David Hymel at Stewardship Partners via email
at dh@stewardshippartners.org.
For more information on the specifics of installing a rain
garden, download the "Rain Garden Handbook for
Western Washington Homeowners" here.
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