"Your city is a scab on the landscape: sidewalks, roads, parking lots, rooftops—the built environment repels water into sewers & then into the environment. Urban planners have been doing it for centuries, treating stormwater as a nuisance to be diverted away as quickly as possible to avoid flooding. Not only is that a waste of free water, it’s an increasingly precarious strategy, as #climate change worsens #droughts but also supercharges storms, dumping ever more #rainfall on impervious cities.
#Urban areas in the United States generate an estimated 59.5 million acre-feet of stormwater runoff / year on average—equal to 53 billion gallons / day. Over the course of the year, that equates to 93% of total municipal & industrial water use. American urban areas couldn’t feasibly capture all of that bountiful runoff, but a combination of smarter stormwater infrastructure & “#SpongeCity” techniques would make urban areas far more sustainable."
#permaculture #wetlands
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2024/03/us-cities-could-capture-billions-gallons-rain-water-conservation-drought/