Managing Urban Landscapes for Water Quality

Further progress toward clean water in the Long Island Sound and New Haven Harbor demands a more integrated and holistic approach to water pollution than Connecticut has traditionally employed. By permitting municipalities and regional authorities to meet regulatory obligations through changes to the urban landscape that reverse the drainage characteristics that lead to polluted waters, Connecticut will be able to more cost-effectively meet its clean water goals while simultaneously providing greenspace and urban design benefits to residents of cities like New Haven. Current funding and regulatory requirements steer municipalities and regional authorities to centralized pollution controls to treat the symptoms of an urban drainage system. A more distributed approach that prevents rainwater from mobilizing and concentrating pollutants in the first place is in order.