Stormwater Thermal Enrichment in Urban Watersheds

Mounting evidence suggests that stormwater mitigation and treatment approaches targeting only pollutant loading and flow moderation in urbanized, coldwater habitats are not sufficient to achieve overall desired water quality benefits. Temperature, as one of the key environmental variables controlling aquatic biota, must also be considered in stormwater management planning where urban runoff is introduced into aquatic systems. This project examines optimal management design considerations to mitigate the impact of stormwater that has warmed during runoff over urbanized areas and demonstrates the effect of stormwater best management practices on the thermal regime of runoff and the receiving stream. Published by WERF. 205 pages. Softcover and online PDF.

Originally funded as WERF project 00-WSM-7UR.