Stormwater Management &
Erosion Control

How the Issue Affects Water Quality

Stormwater runoff is the single biggest source of water pollution in the Upstate. Runoff from poorly managed construction sites carries a tremendous amount of dirt every time it rains. Stormwater from streets and parking lots carries a wide range of pollutants as well, including motor oil, heavy metals, bacteria, and fertilizers. Since stormwater in our region ultimately ends up in the nearest stream – not to a wastewater treatment plant – all of these pollutants go straight into the nearest stream. What’s more, stormwater in older developed areas generally is not even detained, so urban and suburban runoff is a major contributor to flooding problems as well.

While state-of-the-art erosion control and stormwater management techniques can dramatically reduce both the volume and the pollutant load of stormwater, these techniques are only just beginning to be employed in our region. Probably the single most important thing we can do for water quality in our region is to promote – and ultimately, to require – use of cutting-edge technologies for managing stormwater and preventing erosion.

Click here for more information about stormwater management and erosion control strategies that work well in our region.

How We are Addressing it in the Upstate

Anyone who has ever driven around the Upstate in a rainstorm probably has a sense that something is wrong with our approach to managing stormwater and preventing erosion. Roaring floods are becoming all to common, and rivers run red with mud nearly every time it rains.  And yet, stormwater and erosion control infrastructure typically accounts for up to a quarter of a developer’s infrastructure expenditures.  We really ought to be getting more flood control and water quality protection for the money invested.  Our goal in this project area is to strengthen, streamline, and modernize stormwater and erosion control programs in our region so that development and rivers can coexist.

With this goal in mind, a Saluda-Reedy Watershed Consortium partner (Pinnacle Consulting Group) conducted an in-depth assessment of the stormwater and erosion control programs in Greenville County and in the City of Greenville, as well as of on-the-ground practices in each jurisdiction.  As of November 2006, both of these reports were undergoing final review and revision, and were slated for public release in January 2007. Check this page for a link to the reports in the new year! In addition, we plan to convene a meeting with professionals in the industry (mainly private sector civil engineers) to develop a list of about half a dozen recommendations for improvements that we can bring jointly to the city and the county.

To learn more about how we are advocating for better stormwater management and erosion control in our region, click here.

Upstate Forever is also working with a variety of partners to develop a network of demonstration sites of varying sizes and types.  First, Anderson County has agreed to use innovative, wetlands-based strategies for managing stormwater at a planned 45-acre recreation complex on the Saluda River.  Second, Upstate Forever and Friends of the Reedy River are working together to develop a stormwater management demonstration project on the Reedy River just downstream from Falls Park.  Finally, a crew of volunteers helped to construct one of the Upstate's few rain gardens at the Upstate Forever office in the Pettigru Historic Neighborhood. For more information on rain gardens in general, click here.

To learn more about these stormwater management and erosion control demonstration projects, click here.

In addition to demonstration sites throughout the Upstate, we have developed a series of one-page interviews with leading developers and designers in our region about innovative projects that they have designed or built. These interviews will be posted on this website when finalized.