Over the past 20 years, the use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the United States has been instrumental in reducing both the detrimental impacts to receiving water quality and the exacerbated flooding caused by urbanization and storm water drainage. More recently, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) have started to be used in the United Kingdom. Both SUDS and BMPs attempt to mimic the drainage patterns of the natural watershed, and can also provide a degree of treatment needed to improve the quality of the water discharged to an acceptable level. The costs of conventional...

The objectives of this project are to document the performance and whole-life costs of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). These two terms refer to stormwater practices implemented in the U.S. and UK to reduce the impact of urbanization.
The study was undertaken for a number of reasons, including:

• The lack of data on operational performance (in connection with both water quantity and quality management)
• A need to better understand future financial liabilities associated with the widespread adoption of these facilities
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