What is Urban Watershed Management?

Urban Watershed Management is the technological approach of managing the stormwater runoff generated from rainfall in an urban environment. In undeveloped and undisturbed environment, rainfall is naturally filtered and absorbed by its environment. In an urban setting, with typical development of many impervious surfaces, stormwater transports pollutants to receiving waters.

Wet-Weather Flow (WWF) generated by precipitation, collects harmful pollutants while it travels through our city streets & other impervious and drainage systems. Many receiving water quality issues are due to the high level of contaminants generated by Wet-Weather Flow.

The group responsible for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Wet-Weather Flow research is the Urban Watershed Management Branch. We research, develop and demonstrate technologies, systems and methods to manage the risks to public health, property and the environment from Wet-Weather Flow.

 

Research Highlight

Green Roof Research Project Studies Stormwater Absorbency
One of the most interesting stormwater control systems under evaluation by EPA is the “green roofs” program. Green roofs are vegetative covers applied to building roofs to slow, or totally absorb, rainfall runoff during storms. While the concept of over-planted roofs is very ancient, the goals of modern green roof technology are to replace the absorptive capacity of the land on which the building was erected...Continue Reading

Our Focus

Our focus is the drainage and treatment systems of the urban environment, the structural integrity of such systems and the effects of discharges to receiving waters. The majority of the population lives in urban areas and this is where the greatest risks associated with water quality and hydrologic-hydraulic improvements will occur. The focus on urban areas, however, includes addressing the watershed as a whole, including urban fringe/suburban areas and, to an extent, rural areas.