The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.

The primary focus of stormwater and urban runoff research during the past twenty-five years has been on the physical description and the chemical quality assessment of runoff events and the design and implementation of the best management practices to control these events. There is a definite need for more effective integration of receiving system issues in the management and regulation of stormwater runoff. This book successfully brings together a diverse group of environmental specialists to address the issues surrounding the assessment, management, and control of stormwater, and more specifically urban runoff, from a receiving system perspective. The book's emphasis on the receiving system is timely, coming during a period when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is placing increasing emphasis on wet weather conditions through a new permit program for stormwater runoff and a policy on combined sewer overflows. Stormwater Runoff and Receiving Systems covers biocriteria, assessment of receiving water integrity, and integrated watershed analysis-all aspects of current water quality management programs for both industrial and municipal areas. More than thirty chapters are divided into six sections, offering in-depth discussions on various issues relating to stormwater, urban runoff, and receiving systems; impacts; uncertainty and risk; study design; impact mitigation; and issues analysis. Anyone who deals with regulatory programs requiring stormwater effect assessment including more than sampling and analysis of chemical water quality parameters in effluents will find this reference particularly useful.