TY - JOUR T1 - Low impact development works! JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 58A LP - 61A VL - 61 IS - 2 AU - Mark Hood AU - John C. Clausen AU - Glenn S. Warner Y1 - 2006/03/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/61/2/58A.abstract N2 - In recent years low impact development has grown in popularity as a means PG=59A of reducing nonpoint source pollution from residential areas. The goal of low impact development is to mimic predevelopment site hydrology using design techniques that store, infiltrate, evaporate, and detain runoff in a decentralized, micro-scale manner (Coffman, 2000). The recent interest in the popularity of low impact development is the result of several factors including: new insights into the impact of urban stormwater; new application of stormwater technology, and new stormwater laws. Following the clean-up efforts of point source pollutants in the 1970s and 1980s nonpoint source pollutants were recognized as the leading source of water quality impairment in the United States. Urban runoff significantly impacts estuaries, lakes, and rivers (USEPA, 2002). Inventories, such as the National Resources Inventory, indicate that over the past three decades the amount of urbanized land in the United States has increased and is expected to continue growing. The majority of the techniques used in low impact development are not new but the size and scale have changed. For example, retention basins have been used since the 1970s, but by reducing basin size, adding mulch, plants and possibly … ER -