Current stormwater management practices consider just one unique solution, pipes. However, over the last decades, the conventional stormwater drainage has been proven insufficient to manage all impacts related to urban runoff. Cities all over the world are facing common challenges of increasing stormwater floods, and degradation of natural resources and infrastructure caused by climate change and densified urban areas.
The solution to this requires going beyond a narrow focus on a single problem to undertaking a comprehensive water resource protection strategy: recognizing the characteristics of specific water resources, understanding the relevant impacts, and tailoring a comprehensive array of tools to individual situations. A combined use of multiple stormwater management solutions is not just possible, but also advisable to increase resilience to extreme weather and climate events. This is possible with an integrated stormwater management approach. The Integrated Storm Water Management (ISWM) Guidelines were developed by the iWater project.
