Welcome to the Chesapeake Stormwater Network
The Chesapeake Stormwater Network advocates for reform of federal, state and local laws, permits, regulations and design manuals to promote more sustainable stormwater management in the Chesapeake Bay. The interactive network aligns and integrates the efforts of thousands of individuals working on the stormwater problem across the Bay. For more about CSN, click here
The Bay Stormwater Problem
Population growth and sprawl development continues to transform the Chesapeake landscape at an alarming and unprecedented rate. The impervious and turf cover created by new development now represent the fastest growing land cover in the Basin. These changes in land cover are having a dramatic influence on stream quality – it has been conservatively estimated that 10,000 stream miles have already been degraded by past development in the Basin, with another 250 more stream miles lost each year. Polluted stormwater runoff is also a leading impediment to meeting water quality standards in the Bay. Urban stormwater has the dubious distinction of being the fastest growing nutrient source in the Chesapeake Bay, and is also a major source of sediment, pesticides and trace metals to the Bay.Although the stormwater problem has been recognized for two decades, federal, state and local land development regulations have had little impact on the problem - runoff pollution continues unabated in most parts of the Bay. For more on the problem, click here
The Solutions are Here
Effective standards, practices and programs do exist that could solve the stormwater problem today. These are termed sustainable stormwater practices, and include environmental site design, low impact development, stream buffers, land conservation and enhanced stormwater and erosion practices. Regrettably, progress toward implementing sustainable stormwater practices has been painfully slow throughout much of the Bay watershed. The Network will link progressive individuals to work together to dramatically speed up the pace of implementation of sustainable stormwater practices on the ground within the next three years. Find out whats happening Baywide, in your state, or nationally.
How You Can Help the Network
The simple answer is to join the network and encourage your engineering, planning, research and advocacy colleagues to do the same. As an individual network member, you will receive free technical assistance, resources, state-wide stormwater alerts and advocacy resources. More importantly, you will be asked to share information on effective practices and programs, provide peer review on innovative practices, weigh in on critical stormwater legislation and regulations, participate in state and regional stormwater surveys, and help spread the sustainable stormwater message in your community. Joining is simple: Just click here to join and start making a difference in stormwater today.
