Tennessee Valley Authority Economic Development
Sustainable Development Guide: Introduction
Design principles for sustainable industrial development
When developing a site for industrial purposes, it's important to consider how the design will affect water quality. In particular, an increase in impervious surfaces such as roadways, sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings can have a potentially negative effect on water quality and flow.
But economic growth and community health are not mutually exclusive. Protecting water quality can go hand-in-hand with economically viable development.
Purpose
Industrial site development or expansion involves approximately 25,000 acres each year in the TVA power service region. TVA provides some level of technical or financial assistance to almost 70 percent of those developments. This Sustainable Development Guide provides techniques and specifications for environmentally responsible site design, outlining helpful approaches and best practices. It grew out of an initiative by TVA and the Environmental Protection Agency, in discussion with other regional, state, and local partners.
Although much of this information was designed for residential and commercial developments, it is applicable to industrial sites as well. TVA expects and encourages developers and their consulting engineers to consider the principles outlined here for any industrial site development project that employs TVA’s technical assistance or funding.
Contents of the site
The site includes these sections, with extensive discussion and illustration of the main topics:
- Conservation design approach
- Roads and parking lots
- Site development
- Conservation of natural areas
- Pilot studies
- References
- Partners
Rather than creating new material, this Guide builds on and draws from four key references:
- Environmental Protection Agency Stormwater Discharge From Industrial Facilities
- Environmental Protection Agency Post-Construction Storm Water Management in New Development & Redevelopment
- Federal Highway Administration Stormwater Best Management Practices in an Ultra-Urban Setting: Selection and Monitoring
- Georgia Stormwater Management Manual
The idea of a conservation design guide for industrial development is not new; EPA and private sector partners began exploring the possibility in 1993. Thanks to their work, the idea was embraced by the President's Council on Sustainable Development, which defined an eco-industrial park as “A group of businesses that work together and with the community to efficiently share resources (materials, water, energy, infrastructure, natural habitat and information), enhance economic prosperity and improve the environment.”
Refer to the following sources for more about this idea:
