Impervious Surface Coverage: The Emergence of a Key Environmental Indicator

1996/06/30 by Chester L. Arnold, Chester Arnold, C. James Gibbons · 6 citations
Engineering · Environmental Science · #Flood Risk Assessment and Management #Hydraulic flow and structures #Urban Stormwater Management Solutions

paper · doi:10.1080/01944369608975688

openalex publication_date 1996/06/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Planners concerned with water resource protection in urbanizing areas must deal with the adverse impacts of polluted runoff. Impervious surface coverage is a quantifiable land-use indicator that correlates closely with these impacts. Once the role and distribution of impervious coverage are understood, a wide range of strategies to reduce impervious surfaces and their impacts on water resources can be applied to community planning, site-level planning and design, and land use regulation. These strategies complement many current trends in planning, zoning, and landscape design that go beyond water pollution concerns to address the quality of life in a community.

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• Biodiversity conservation and restoration of wetlands in suburban areas: challenges and prospects
• Understanding, management and modelling of urban hydrology and its consequences for receiving waters: A state of the art
• Impacts of urbanisation on hydrological and water quality dynamics, and urban water management: a review
• Should governments promote or restrain urbanization?
• Projected land use changes will cause water quality degradation at drinking water intakes across a regional watershed
• Examining the Influence of Development Patterns on Flood Damages along the Gulf of Mexico

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