Designing a Complete Water Sensitive Community through Low Impact Development Practices

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The proposed research will involve the evaluation of the effects of Low Impact Development (LID) systems onreceiving water systems such as streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. This will be achieved by studying andcomparing newly urbanized or retrofitted communities where stormwater is primarily managed and treatedthrough LID systems with communities that possess traditional stormwater systems (curbs and gutters, wetstormwater management ponds). LID systems have become an increasingly visible infrastructure investmentthroughout Canadian communities as municipalities are faced with the combined effects of aging and costlyinfrastructure, growing urban populations, and increased risks associated with climate change. Despite thegrowing demand for LID systems, little is known about the collective influence of LID projects on receivingwaters. Although several studies have explored performance of individual and isolated LID systems, there is adearth of information regarding the long-term implications of LID at the neighbourhood or catchment scale.The immediate effect of this knowledge gap is a tendency to overdesign LID systems and generating costprohibitive designs. Although research suggests that LID systems provide a net benefit to urban watersheds,there is no universally accepted means to evaluate their effectiveness at the catchment-level. Within thestormwater industry there is a growing sense that there is significant room to optimize LID system design tomaximize benefits for urban catchments and receiving waters. There is an opportunity for Canada to become adriver of innovation in LID technology and the design of stormwater systems.