LAND DEVELOPMENT AND STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

Stormwater is an important water resource. As rain falls, some water runs off overland and most soaks into the soil, recharging groundwater as it makes its way to lakes and streams.

Numerous features of the natural landscape trap runoff and allow rainwater to filter into the ground. Wetlands and ponds can retain significant volumes of water; forests and grasslands absorb water freely. These natural features remove pollutants and slow the rate of surface runoff.

Land development often eliminates features that moderate stormwater runoff, exposing soil to erosion. Intensified runoff carries soil and other pollutants into streams, lakes, rivers and estuaries. Downstream, bank erosion and flooding increase, and even upstream communities begin to experience road washouts and flooded basements. Instead of a valuable resource, stormwater becomes a costly and sometimes dangerous problem.

Preventing these problems requires precautions during and after land development. Because local governments have the principal responsibility for controlling land use and development, federal and state law require urbanized communities to establish stormwater management programs whose goal is to maintain pre-development runoff conditions. The state/federal stormwater management program is set up to allow flexibility for local governments to manage stormwater in a way that suits their own individual conditions.

To protect resources and quality of life, New York State encourages all localities to employ local land use controls in stormwater management. Ideally, stormwater should be retained or absorbed on-site; the quantity, rate and quality of runoff should not be significantly different from what they were before the site was developed.