What are revenue requirements for stormwater management?

Revenue requirements for stormwater management can be defined as the sum of capital and operating costs required to achieve goals.  As indicated in the preceding sections, revenue requirements for achieving stormwater goals will be significant, and the step of estimating revenue requirements is a key step in the financial planning process.  In any particular place at any particular time, revenue requirements will reflect the condition of existing infrastructure and land use, local goals and objectives, and community priorities and preferences.  In particular, the magnitude of revenue requirements for stormwater management will reflect how managers define and group the set of activities related to managing runoff.

Ideas about what constitutes stormwater management are evolving.  Historically, public concern about stormwater runoff was limited to drainage and flood control.  The objectives of drainage programs were to convey runoff away from structures and property and to get it to receiving waters as quickly as possible.  Objectives related to flood control were to minimize damage on downstream structures and property.  As understanding of the hydrologic effects of urbanization has increased, new programs aimed at controlling the effects of runoff have been initiated, most of which involve regulation of development and requirements that developers build and maintain detention and retention facilities.  More recently, as the effects of runoff on water quality and aquatic habitat have become better understood, programs aimed at mitigating the ecological effects of runoff have been developed.  Many programs to manage the effects of stormwater now are linked to or incorporate infrastructure rehabilitation and retrofitting, land use controls, habitat restoration, and public education.  The relevant point here is that the scope of stormwater programs must be determined in order to estimate revenue requirements.  The revenue requirements depend on the variety of functions to be financed.