By Ed Hill
In the fourth article in the series “A New Approach to Storm-Water Management and Flood Reduction“, Ed Hill looks at Low Impact Development (LID) and ‘green infrastructure’ (GI) in North America.
Similar in concept to SuDS in the UK (see examples of cases studies “Slowing the Flow” and Manor Fields Park), in the United States of America, the concept of Low Impact Development (LID), which is said to have begun in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1990, was initiated as an alternative to conventional stormwater best management practices (BMP’s). In the USA, conventional BMP’s were found to fall short of EPA-mandated water quality goals.