Stormwater Best Management Practices
 The Stormwater Challenge
Stormwater runoff can be a source of pollution of our water bodies. Most often the pollution generated is particulate matter, such as eroded sediment or dust that accumulates on roadways, buildings, and parking lots. This particulate matter can be a pollutant itself and sometimes carries metals and bacteria. Other pollutants include nutrients and chemicals that can originate from the application of pesticides, fertilizers, and waste material to land.
Additionally, the impervious cover and more efficient drainage systems typical of urban areas result in increased runoff volumes and flow rates that can not only lead to flooding problems, but also significantly impact water quality. Increased runoff can cause erosion and scouring of receiving streams, adding pollutants to the water. The increased flow can also damage utilities and drainage structures, as well as aquatic and riparian habitat.
 The federal, state, and local regulatory programs that have been created to address these concerns have provided the catalyst for the use of urban, roadway, and construction-related best management practices (BMPs).
Targeted Solutions: BMPs
EPA defines stormwater BMPs as “methods that have been determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing pollution from nonpoint sources.” There are many types of BMPs that can be classified in many ways–structural or nonstructural, construction or operation, source or regional. The key is matching the BMP solution to the stormwater problem.
Nonstructural BMPs
- Public education
- Good “housekeeping”
- Street sweeping
- Recycling
- Maintenance practices
- Soil stabilization
Structural BMPs
- Low-impact development plans
- Grassed swales/vegetated filter strips and hedge rows
- Extended detention and sedimentation ponds
- Wet ponds and constructed wetland areas
- Filtration basins
- Infiltration basins or trenches
- Porous pavement
- Hydrodynamic devices
- Construction-related devices
PBS&J's Capabilities
 PBS&J professionals have a long history of providing stormwater management and BMP services to meet clients' needs. These services encompass complete project efforts, including studies, design manual development, conceptual plans, final designs, regulatory compliance and permitting, and construction and performance monitoring. The diversified experience of our engineers and scientists include the successful completion of numerous BMPrelated projects for public and private clients.
One aspect that sets PBS&J’s stormwater services apart is our integration of ecological capabilities, including aquatic biology and fisheries, with fluvial geomorphology to address aquatic habitat issues as well as drainage and regulatory requirements. As part of our multiobjective design process, our widely diversified staff also develops plans that allow for stormwater BMP sites to include recreational areas and habitat protection and/or restoration.
Because stormwater quality and quantity problems are often closely related, our goal is to find innovative ways to address both problems, while preserving or enhancing environmental conditions.
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