Water Sector Law and Policy
This tab includes laws and policies for avoiding or reducing climate change impacts in the water sector, including best practices and legal and policy analysis. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, impact, jurisdictional focus, state, or region.
105 results are shown below.
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Staying Green discusses the barriers to and recommendations for effective operation and maintenance of green infrastructure practices for stormwater management. Green infrastructure (GI) requires proper maintenance to function effectively and continue to provide climate change adaptation benefits, such as urban heat island and flood mitigation. This report offers specific strategies, based on examples from throughout the Chesapeake Bay region and the country, to improve the operations and maintenance of GI practices.
Author or Affiliated User: Stacey Detwiler
Resource Category: Solutions
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March 10, 2016
This guide from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides practical solutions to help drinking water utilities respond to and recover from drought - although it is not intended to serve as regulatory guidance. The interactive, user-friendly guide provides worksheets, best practices, videos and key resources for managing drought emergencies and building long-term resilience. It also relays lessons learned and case studies for seven small- to medium-sized utilities nationwide that have faced extreme drought conditions.
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2016
Wetlands Watch, Hampton University, and Old Dominion University collaborated to develop flooding resiliency designs for Chesterfield Heights, a neighborhood in Norfolk, VA. The Norfolk region has been named the 10th most at risk from sea level rise of the world’s port cities by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This design proposal emphasizes adaptation solutions that protect the region’s coastal ecosystems, as well as conducting flooding and sea level rise adaptation at the street and parcel level.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Skip Stiles , Mason Andrews, Mujde Erten-Unal
Resource Category: Planning
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January 2016
Delaware’s Green Infrastructure Primer, released in 2016, provides an overview of nature-based approaches that can mitigate stormwater runoff, flooding, erosion, and water and air pollution. The primer provides an introduction to green infrastructure, fact sheets regarding eight green infrastructure practices, three case studies showing examples of green infrastructure being used in Delaware, a discussion of larger-landscape-scale green infrastructure efforts, and suggested resources for more information.
Resource Category: Solutions
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December 2015
The Bipartisan Policy Center created this model legislation to help states pass public-private partnership (P3) enabling laws to encourage private-sector investment in infrastructure (wastewater, transportation, stormwater, and green infrastructure). P3s could be an important tool for helping state and local governments finance the investments they need to make to adapt infrastructure systems. P3s allow the government to contract with a private sector partner to fulfill one or more traditional government functions, including financing, delivery, operations, and maintenance of public infrastructure.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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October 30, 2015
This report describes the stormwater management challenges that Southern Florida faces due to climate change and offers several recommendations for how these issues can be addressed. It discusses three basin scale strategies: Everglades restoration, adjusting regional water control practices, and small scale adaptation efforts. Local governments can also play a pivotal role by investing in green infrastructure and implementing financing strategies for stormwater management. This guidance document is one in a series of publications designed to assist county and municipal policymakers, administrators and program staff with implementation of the 110 recommendations contained within the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact’s 2012 Regional Climate Action Plan.
Resource Category: Solutions
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August 19. 2015
This report describes how climate-related extreme weather events exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. In this case, the report highlights the disproportionate challenges experienced by frontline communities during the California drought that began in 2012, which includes communities of color and low-income people living in tribal, rural, and farming communities. The report discusses the following topics: the causes and severity of California’s drought; the drought’s impacts on the national food system; demographics, water rights, and drought impacts in agricultural communities; and policy recommendations.
Author or Affiliated User: Wendy Ortiz
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 1, 2015
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have finalized the Clean Water Rule, designed to protect and restore water sources nationwide. The rule will redevelop clear safeguards against unregulated pollution and destruction for nearly two million miles of streams and tens of millions of acres of wetlands in the continental U.S.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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May 2015
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), the District of Columbia, the U. S. Department of Justice and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have established an agreement which allows DC Water to pursue an integrated green/gray infrastructure approach to reduce combined sewer overflows into rivers and to capture rainwater. The agreement addresses water quality and supply issues in the Rock Creek and Potomac watersheds which traverse Maryland, Virginia, and the District.
Resource Category: Solutions
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May 2015
In 2015, the New Orleans City Council adopted a new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO). Article 23 of the CZO addresses landscaping and stormwater management with the intended purpose of reducing the urban heat island effect, decreasing flooding and strains on the existing drainage system, improving water conservation, and protecting public health, safety, and welfare. Article 23 of the CZO does not directly mention climate change or climate adaptation, but does specify regulations that can improve the cities ability to manage stormwater in the face of increased precipitation and mitigate heat in the face of rising temperatures though green infrastructure.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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