Evolution of Stormwater Management in Atlanta, Georgia

Identify and Deal with Obstacles

Published by Stormwater Magazine in 2007. a 3-part series of articles focused on causes, effects, and remedies leading to the establishment and refinement of administrative procedures, professional trust, proactive approaches, and the elimination of plan implementation obstacles in the Atlanta, Georgia region. Titled the Evolution of Stormwater Management:

• Part 1 covered stormwater management issues;
• Part 2 looked at redevelopment and professional certification; and
• Part 3 examined the Endangered Species Act as it relates to stormwater management.

"Minimum compliance is no longer the standard, and stormwater is no longer an afterthought for community planning," wrote Dave Briglio, series author and Principal Engineer at AMEC. "As a community, we must pool our resources to help enable a positive return on our endeavors. The goal is not only to continually improve the protection and restoration of our streams and watershed but also to improve the process."

Part 1 of the series discussed issues ranging from floodplains to best management practices, to stream buffers and field inventories, to professional rights and responsibilities. Part 2 addressed challenges associated with innovative applications of accepted methodologies and who has (or wants) the responsibility and authority to deem which application should be allowed—and when. 

Part 3 highlighted the Etowah Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), a watershed program that supports the Endangered Species Act for the one of the most aquatically diverse watersheds in the United States. "The HCP shows that progress can be made and success gleaned by identifying and dealing with obstacles," concluded Dave Briglio.

The Etowah Basin lies on the north edge of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The suburban counties that comprise the lower portion of the system have been among the fastest growing counties in the United States over the last decade. In 1998, one of them (Forsyth County) was ranked as the fastest-growing county nationwide. Over the course of the 1990s the Atlanta metropolitan area added more people than any other region in the United States except Los Angeles.