Tools For Evaluating The Benefits Of Green Infrastructure for Urban Water Management: Informational Brief

Communities are looking to green infrastructure as a means of not only meeting stormwater management objectives, but multiple environmental, social, and economic goals. Rather than viewing water infrastructure in isolation or as an after-the-fact means of responding to a flooding or public health crisis, today’s urban planners are striving to integrate water treatment into their sustainable development goals. This informational brief reviews the criteria, metrics, and protocols being used to measure such integrated systems. It provides overviews for two analysis methods gaining popularity in the urban planning field – life cycle cost analysis and triple bottom line – as they apply to stormwater and urban water management and outlines some of the practical challenges encountered when collecting data and measuring for performance. Published by WERF. 46 pages. Online PDF. (2012)

Originally funded as WERF project INFR5SG09b.