Water Issues In Sustainable Developments: Stormwater Management, Sewage Management And Green Roofs

I. INTRODUCTION

A. WATER CONSERVATION

Clean drinking water is a precious resource. Maximizing water efficiency is one of the most effective strategies in building sustainable communities. The following three approaches all contribute to this goal:

• reducing quantity of, and improving quality of stormwater runoff being released to municipal drainage systems;
• reclaiming rainwater collected on-site to be used for non-potable purposes; and
• using green roofs to retain stormwater.

Urbanization leads to increased amounts of stormwater runoff, as development increases the surface area impervious to rainwater.¹ Rainwater rolls off cement surfaces such as roofs and roads and enters the municipal sewer system, becoming stormwater and gathering sediment particles as it travels. Sedimentation and stormwater runoff pose continual risks to ecosystems: the runoff containing sedimentation and contaminants eventually enters lakes, rivers and other water bodies,