More Cities Adopting Stormwater Fees: You Pave, You Pay

In 2011,   we wrote about the innovative stormwater fee adopted by Kitchener, Ontario, following English and American precedents. Instead of funding storm water management through fees for municipal water, which penalizes heavy water users such as laundries, these municipalities fund the cost of managing stormwater through taxes on those who create storm water management problems by having large impervious surfaces, such as flat (non-green) roofs and parking lots.  You pave, you pay.

Not only are stormwater fees a fairer way of charging for stormwater management, they also create an important financial incentive for property owners and tenants to reduce the impervious surfaces on their land.  This has major environmental advantages.