Situation: The changing landscape in the Midwest along with more stringent regulatory requirements to manage stormwater has resulted in a need among jurisdictions for increased capacity to identify and implement alternatives for managing stormwater runoff. While many best management practices (BMP's) have been proposed and are continually being developed and refined, engineers and stormwater managers are reluctant to try innovative BMP designs due to a lack of familiarity and experience with the practices and concerns about efficacy and long-term maintenance requirements.
In order to increase awareness about innovative BMP's that have been adopted and implemented throughout the region a BMP Database has been developed. The BMP Database system allows a user to submit a project summary, location data, images, and other information about an innovative BMP through an easy to use online submission form. Data entered into the online form is then used to create a project summary webpage for each project. Location information about the project is used to spatially reference (i.e. locate) the project in an interactive mapping application called Digital Watersheds. Users that want to learn more about innovative BMP's in their watershed or neighboring watersheds can query the database using the Digital Watersheds interface. Users can identify information about specific projects and links to the project summary web pages are provided through hyperlinks. Additional information on how to submit a project or query the database is provided in the BMP Database User Manual.
