The purpose of the Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) Manual is to provide guidance, options and tools that can be used to protect water quality, enhance water availability and reduce flooding potential through effective stormwater management. This manual presents design standards and planning concepts for use by local authorities, planners, land developers, engineers, contractors, and others involved with planning, designing, reviewing, approving, and constructing land development projects.

This manual describes a stormwater management approach to the land development process that strives to:

• First, prevent or minimize stormwater problems through comprehensive planning and development techniques, and
• Second, to mitigate any remaining potential problems by employing structural and non-structural BMPs.

Manual users are strongly encouraged to follow the progression of prevention first and mitigation second. Throughout the chapters of this manual the concept of an integrated stormwater management program, based on a broad understanding of the natural land and water systems, is a key and recurring theme. Such a thorough understanding of the natural systems demands an integrated approach to stormwater management, so critical to “doing it better, doing it smarter.”

This manual provides guidance on managing all aspects of stormwater: rate, volume, quality, and groundwater recharge. Controlling the peak rate of flow during extreme rainfall events is important, but it is not sufficient to protect the quality and integrity of Pennsylvania streams. Reducing the overall volume of runoff during large and small rainfall events, improving water quality, and maintaining groundwater recharge for wells and stream flow are all vital elements of protecting and improving the quality of Pennsylvania’s streams and waterways.

External Links:

More Information: www.depweb.state.pa.us/watershedmgmt/cwp/view.asp?a=1437&q=529063&watershedmgmtNav