“LID is something you have to look at with the willingness to be flexible and use the most appropriate systems for a given site,” Bailey said. “It requires a lot more creativity.” “For small scale (projects) you can come up with something that works most of the time, in most places.” There are additional opportunities for making LID more widespread. In 2010, Washington legislators pledged $50 million for stormwater improvements. This year, a partnership of Washington’s city and county leaders, labor representatives and environmental advocates are working with the Legislature to establish a long-term funding source to pay for more low-impact development. For now, however, the proposal appears to be a long shot. There is an urgency to act. The Washington Department of Ecology is working on rules that will require more use of LID, and final regulations should be completed by summer 2012. The US Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening national stormwater regulations that should take effect in less than two years and will encompass more towns and cities than ever before. And the stormwater problem is only likely to worsen if the population of Washington, Oregon and Idaho swells to an expected 14.5 million residents by 2030 – roughly a 20 percent increase from today. “Time is not on our side,” said Tom Holz, a stormwater and LID expert from Olympia. “We may lose the battle just simply through dallying.” LISA STIFFLER is a researcher and editor at Sightline Institute. Previously, she worked as an environmental reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer where her work included award-winning investigations into the health of Puget Sound
Start the year off on the right path.
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