Download the Detroit Stormwater Case Study

As cities grow, there is an associated increase in impervious land, posing a significant threat to stormwater management. Given that impervious surfaces reduce the infiltration, storage, and flow of water below ground, they create high-speed water movement throughout the urban area, often resulting in mass destruction. One of the primary challenges to support the development of a sustainable stormwater program is funding. 

The burden of overseeing stormwater management programs lies mostly with individual municipalities. Municipalities must comply with federal mandates to come up with programs that support the Clean Water Act (CWA) but do not have the necessary financial resources to address their stormwater challenges. This challenge has given rise to the concept of Stormwater Utility Fees (SUFs).

By working closely with Ecopia, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) was able to enhance mapping data standardization and improve the speed of data creation that represents reality to build an optimized and fair SUF program.