The new National Stormwater Calculator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aims to help property owners, developers, landscapers, and urban planners make more-informed decisions about land-use plans to better protect local waterways from stormwater runoff.
The calculator, which is part of the Stormwater Calculator and Climate Assessment Tool package announced as part of President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan in June, is a desktop application that estimates the annual amount of stormwater runoff from a specific site. It factors in local soil conditions, slope, land cover, and historical rainfall records. Users can select different scenarios to learn how green infrastructure choices such as using rain barrels and rain gardens, can prevent stormwater runoff and pollution.
Click here for more information on the calculator. An update, including the ability to link to several future climate scenarios, will be released at the end of the year. Click here for more information on the President’s virtual climate resilience toolkit.