Urban Conservation

The WNRCD has within our boundaries the largest city in Vermont (Burlington) and the capital (Montpelier). With over 47 communities of people calling the WNRCD home, there is an impact from developed areas on water quality that is directly linked to stormwater. The WNRCD has compiled a list of resources for municipalities, homeowners, and associations who want to implement sound urban conservation practices. Best Management Practices include low impact development, rain gardens, and more.

WNRCD Urban & Residential Conservation Factsheets

Green Lawn Care factsheet

Septic System Maintenance Factsheet

Vermont Rain Garden Manual

This high-quality handbook provides detailed instructions on how to locate, size, design and plant a rain garden in Vermont. An extensive plant list provides information to choose the best varieties for your location and detailed design ideas for several sample sites provide inspiration.

Download a copy here: VTRainGardenManual

[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZWbAQNbQo&index=2&list=PLoJER0CnYMvvfxiGzoOJUSnZbt0S9ZjL3″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

“Green” Lawn Care

http://www.lcbp.org/get-involved/what-you-can-do/lawn-and-garden-tips/

http://www.lcbp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/yourlawnlake.pdf

http://www.lawntolake.org/

Lake Shore Living

http://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakeshores-lake-wise/bmp

http://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakeshores-lake-wise/resources

Vermont Stormwater Management Manual

Effective stormwater management must include both water quality and water quantity controls. This document by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources presents a unified approach for designing and sizing stormwater treatment practices (STPs) to meet specified treatment standards for water quality, channel protection, groundwater recharge, overbank flood protection and extreme flood control.

Vermont Stormwater Management Manual

Vermont Low Impact Development Guide

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Division “Vermont Low Impact Development Guide for residential and small sites. The practices in this guide are intended to be applied to residential and small commercial sites. Because LID BMPs use a variety of techniques for controlling runoff, designs can be customized to site needs and constraints.

sw_LID Guide

Vermont Green Stormwater Infrastructure Simplified Sizing Tool for Small Projects

The Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT), in partnership with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP), has updated the Vermont Model Low Impact Development
Stormwater Management Bylaw, which was released in 2008. As part of the update, this guidance and attendant suite of tools was created with the goal of making stormwater management more accessible to small and moderately-sized towns seeking to manage stormwater from development and re-development projects that fall below the permitting thresholds for State stormwater permitting, often referred to as “sub-jurisdictional”.
This suite of tools can be utilized to size, and aid in the review of, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) best
management practices (BMPs) for small projects – projects creating up to ½-acre of impervious surface. The sizing
criteria for BMPs included in this guidance are calibrated to meet the draft Water Quality Treatment Standard, which will require treatment of the “first inch” of runoff from proposed impervious surfaces.

2015_GSI-Simplified-Sizing-Tool-Fact-Sheets

2015-GSI-simplified-sizing-spreadsheet