Water Smart Development Guidebook

The Sonoma County Water Agency developed the Water Smart Development Guidebook to provide Sonoma County land developers, city and county planning officials, and environmental regulatory agencies with a reference guide to avoid and minimize potential adverse impacts to water resources that can result from development projects. The guidebook provides guidance for the planning and design of residential and commercial developments for water resource related project elements. It is not the intent of this guidebook to establish enforceable regulations or permit requirements.

Picture of parking lot landscape. Core subjects and scope of Water Smart Development Guidebook.

3 Core Subjects and Multi-Objective Scope

The three core subjects of this guidebook focus on ways to increase water conservation, increase water reuse, and reduce stormwater impacts. Commonly, these subjects are investigated and discussed as separate topics. This guidebook seeks to integrate these subjects within a single document to highlight potential areas of synergy and mutual benefit between topics. The multi-objective scope of this Water Smart Development Guidebook also supports several regional goals and initiatives, including: energy savings and sustainability initiatives, integrated regional water management (IRWM), and flood management programs.

Connection to NPDES Municipal Stormwater Permit

The Water Smart Development Guidebook also supports requirements of the revised Phase 1 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit for discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) for the City of Santa Rosa, County of Sonoma, and the Sonoma County Water Agency. Direct compliance with the Phase 1 NPDES permit requirements related to low impact development (LID) is primarily guided by the City of Santa Rosa's LID Technical Design Manual. LID is a planning and design strategy used to avoid and reduce potentially harmful impacts on water resources associated with stormwater runoff from land development. The City of Santa Rosa's document contains specific requirements and measures which may be required for some development projects. One intent of the Water Smart Development Guidebook is to complement the City of Santa Rosa's LID Technical Design Manual for discussion of stormwater management. The Revised NPDES Permit (Order R1-2009-0050) was adopted in October 1, 2009 and includes several LID related requirements.

Public Review and Comment on Draft of Guidebook

The Water Smart Developement Guidebook is currently in draft format. Public comment closed on September 26, 2011 and the document will be revised based upon those comments. Below are links to download the entire guidebook or sections of the guidebook.

Complete: Water Smart Development Guidebook (May 2011 Version)

Additional Information

For additional information regarding Water Smart Development or the Water Agency's efforts towards water conservation, water reuse, stormwater management, and flood protection, please check out the links below.

Questions or Comments

For any questions or comments regarding the Water Smart Development Guidebook, please send your letter to Amy Bolten, Public Information Officer, Sonoma County Water Agency, 404 Aviation Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 or email her at amy.bolten@scwa.ca.gov.