EPA Headquarters Low Impact Development Program

In This Section

EPA, in collaboration with the U.S. General Services Administration, is demonstrating low impact development (LID) and sustainable stormwater management practices in a landscape renovation project at its Federal Triangle Headquarters in Washington, DC. The project will not only reduce the volume and pollution levels of stormwater runoff, but also demonstrate that sustainable design and LID can be used in high profile, urban sites with rigorous aesthetic design requirements.

The Federal Triangle complex's extensive building roofs, sidewalks, courtyards, and parking areas make the area approximately 95 percent impervious to rain. This multi-year, multi-phased project, however, will significantly reduce the adverse impacts of stormwater flows from the 25-acre site.

The Constitution Avenue entrances upgrades include construction of rain gardens (bio-retention cells) and new plantings along a major avenue. The Ariel Rios South Courtyard project involves permeable paving, sustainable landscaping, bioretention cells, and a cistern to capture rainwater runoff in an interior courtyard. Construction of these projects began in January 2005.

Click image to enlarge.

LID Demonstration Project Descriptions

Ariel Rios Building South Courtyard

Constitution Avenue Entrances

Garage Cisterns at EPA West Building

Stormwater Management Practices at EPA
Practice	Environmental Benefits	Location
Practice	Environmental Benefits	Ariel Rios South Courtyard	Constitution Avenue	West Buildings
Bioretention Cells	Allow stormwater to filter into the ground rather than wash off the surface and into storm drains and combined sewers.	X	X
Permeable Concrete		X
Permeable Pavers		X
Cisterns	Collect and store stormwater for later use in landscape irrigation.	X		X
Sustainable Landscaping	Take up stormwater, provide wildlife habitat.	X	X
Recycled Content Materials	Reduce solid waste and reliance on raw materials.	X

This table was taken from the Office of Water Stormwater Management at EPA Headquarters Fact Sheet (PDF) (2 pp, 905K, About PDF).

LID Goals

This LID Project has several important goals:

Reduce the volume and peak runoff of stormwater that is generated from the EPA complex to the Washington, DC, combined sewer system.
Create an educational facility that will allow EPA and local governments to observe and monitor point source pollution.
Demonstrate the feasibility of using innovative stormwater management techniques for urban stormwater management retrofits.
Demonstrate the costs and effectiveness of urban retrofits.
Incorporate site design techniques into the complex that will help improve efforts to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) building certification.
Promote techniques that will help fulfill executive orders on greening the government and water and energy conservation.
Promote partnerships between federal and local government agencies for the stewardship of the environment.

More information on the major sustainable features demonstrated in these projects can be found on the Stormwater Management Techniques page.

LID and Green Infrastructure

In general, "green infrastructure" refers to systems and practices that use or mimic natural processes to infiltrate, evapotranspirate (the return of water to the atmosphere either through evaporation or by plants), or reuse stormwater or runoff on the site where it is generated. Green infrastructure can be incorporated in a variety of landscaping scenarios in place of, or in addition to, more traditional stormwater control elements to support the principles of LID. To learn more about how EPA is promoting green infrastructure to manage wet weather impacts in urban areas, please visit EPA's Green Infrastructure Page. Be sure to read EPA's 2008 Action Strategy (PDF) (38 pp, 940K, About PDF) for more information about green infrastructure.

More Information

Visit EPA's Office of Water Web page on Stormwater Management at the EPA Headquarters Office Complex for more on EPA's Federal Triangle Campus project.

Contact

Robert Goo (goo.robert@epa.gov)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (4503T)
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 566-1201

Cathy Berlow (berlow.cathy@epa.gov)
Ronald Reagan Building (3204R)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 564-3739