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EPA's Stormwater Management Results
In This Section
EPA has begun to make significant progress in increasing Agency stormwater management efforts and implementing sustainable stormwater management, low impact development (LID) practices, and wet weather green infrastructure throughout its facilities. These efforts have resulted in both environmental and economic benefits:
Environmental Benefits
- Controls runoff pollutants (quality) and volume (quantity).
- Promotes infiltration, groundwater recharge, runoff storage, filtration, and stormwater reuse.
- Minimizes grading and impervious surfaces.
- Maintains or restores the site’s pre-development conditions.
- Minimizes erosion and protects downstream waterways.
Economic and Land Value Benefits
- Reduces the need for storm pipes, curbs, gutters, and large ponds which can maximize open space and save on construction costs.
- Reduces the potential for downstream flooding and combined sewer overflows.
- Increases real estate value and site aesthetics in some cases.
- Reduces building cooling costs in some cases.
- Reduces stormwater fees if the local jurisdiction charges fees based on a site’s impervious surface area.
As EPA continues to pursue sustainable stormwater management, LID, and wet weather green infrastructure opportunities, the Agency is investigating methods of quantifying the benefits of these opportunities. For example, EPA is working to inventory existing stormwater management practices at its facilities, which will allow it to quantify the potential environmental benefits of completed projects.
Awards
As a result of its stormwater management and LID projects at Headquarters, EPA has received the following awards:
- GSA Real Property Management award for Ariel Rios South Courtyard.
- 2007 Landscape Contractors Association Grand Award for Commercial Landscape Installation for Ariel Rios South Courtyard.
In addition, LID and sustainable stormwater management have contributed to several EPA facilities achieving the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED®) certification both for existing buildings and new construction at the following facilities:
- Region 1 Office in Boston, Massachusetts
- Potomac Yard Headquarters facility in Arlington, Virginia
- Annex 2 of the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
- New England Regional Laboratory in Chelmsford, Massachusetts
- Region 8 Office in Denver, Colorado
- Science and Technology Center in Kansas City, Kansas