The Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Inc. (CRWP) continues its work to reduce storm water runoff into rivers and streams as the local partner for a U.S. EPA program called "Demonstrating Innovative Approaches to Distributed Storm Water Management in Northeast Ohio."

CRWP rolls out the program in early 2007 and pays for 60% of the cost for cites, villages, townships, counties or park districts to install and monitor techniques that maintain the pre-development runoff patterns of development sites. Examples of the Low Impact Development (LID) techniques that qualify include conservation development, riparian and wetland setbacks, and structural storm water best management practices such as bioretention and pervious pavements.

CRWP is a non-profit organization formed in 1996 by 16 communities in the Chagrin River watershed to provide technical assistance to local governments and park districts on land-use related issues.

The project will include technical support, public education, and demonstration projects that will be monitored to provide long-term data and education to advance low impact development in Northeast Ohio.

Low impact development relies on smaller, less intrusive (than the typical manmade solutions such as ponds) bioretention basins and vegetated swales to distribute surface water across development sites with the purpose of increasing infiltration and reducing the quantity of water leaving a site.

The primary benefits of using low impact development are to:

• Prevent degradation of water quality and natural resources,
• Manage storm water and costs more effectively, and
• Protect groundwater and drinking water supplies.

Communities designated under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Phase II storm water program can use low impact development to reduce storm water volumes and peak runoff rates, and to facilitate pollutant removal. Owners and operators of construction sites disturbing one acre or more, or less than one acre if part of a larger common plan of development or sale, can use low impact development practices to meet the Ohio EPA’s water quality volume requirements in the NPDES General Construction Site Permit.

For more information or to apply contact Rachel Webb, CRWP Low Impact Development Coordinator.