EFFECTWENESS OF INTEGRATED STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IN A PORTLAND, OREGON, WATERSHED1

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The City of Portland's stormwater management program, winner of EPA's Environmental Excellence Award for 1996, is committed to partnership‐based, cost‐effective, “green” approaches to healthy neighborhoods and water quality. The stormwater program encourages innovative, non‐structural pollution reduction techniques like native landscaping, stormwater pollution reduction bioswales and ponds, and public involvement and education.Effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) has been difficult to determine on a citywide basis. Recognizing this problem, the City of Portland launched the Parkrose Pilot Project in 1994 to test the effectiveness of a wide range of BMPs in a small watershed in north Portland, the Parkrose catchment, and monitor the results prior to citywide implementation. This catchment was selected because of its small size (144 acres), its representative mix of land uses, and an extensive record of water quality monitoring data.This paper examines the City's strategy in selecting the Parkrose study area as a pilot watershed, the BMPs chosen for use in the watershed, and the results of the program to date. Final success of the Parkrose project will be gauged by the attainment of measurable pollution reduction within the catchment while providing opportunities for meaningful participation by the local community in achieving water quality. Involvement by private citizens in the community is crucial to the success of the project and to ensure compliance with the federal mandate to reduce pollutants to the maximum extent practicable.