Application of a Monitoring Plan for Stormwater Control Measures in the Philadelphia Region

Stormwater control measures (SCM), also known as stormwater best management practices (BMPs), increasingly are being used to mitigate the impacts of development and to restore the hydrologic cycle. This paper presents a three-tiered monitoring plan that can be used to determine the effectiveness of structural, nonproprietary SCMs in the northeastern United States. The monitoring plan offers three levels of monitoring: high, medium, and low. This 1-2-3 approach is common in environmental monitoring. The monitoring protocol integrates hydrologic, water quality, and ecological factors as well as recommendations for equipment with the level of monitoring. The monitoring plan is then applied to a rain garden on Villanova University's campus and a cost analysis of the different monitoring levels is provided.