Comprehensive Stormwater Management in Urbanising Townships in the US and its Implications for Germany

Abstract

The practice of stormwater management is evolving from what has been called the ‘common enemy rule’ into a ‘Blue-Green Technology approach’. The common enemy approach has long been an engineering standard for stormwater, whereby water is shed away from potential ‘damage areas’ as fast as possible. This implies that flood problems caused by increases in runoff are being passed on to properties downstream, adversely affecting people, causing loss of life, damage to properties and problems to public health. Flood catastrophes along the Oder River, the Rhine and along other rivers in Europe illustrate the drama of these problems only too graphically, thus advances made in the US have implications for Germany and other countries.