Explore how resilient and sustainable stormwater management strategies help communities mitigate flooding, protect resources, and build future-ready infrastructure.
From extreme weather events and shifting climate patterns to aging infrastructure, rapid urbanization, and heightened regulatory requirements, communities across the nation are faced with mounting challenges in the preparation of and response to stormwater.
Flooding is not only one of the most visible effects of these challenges but also one of the costliest, damaging homes, disrupting economies, and threatening public health. Yet, addressing these pressures requires more than reactive solutions – It calls for innovation, foresight, and a commitment to both resiliency and sustainability in stormwater management.
Resiliency and sustainability are closely linked, yet distinct, guiding principles. Resiliency focuses on the ability of a community/stormwater system to withstand, adapt to, and recover from increasingly variable and extreme events. This includes shifts in climate patterns, an increased frequency and intensity of major storm events, as well as changing conditions such as sea-level rise.
Sustainability overlaps with resiliency, with a slightly different emphasis, extending the vision over the long term to ensure that communities/stormwater systems deliver benefits for future generations, aligning design with environmental health, resource conservation, and community well-being. Sustainable solutions improve water quality, restore ecosystems, and reduce long-term costs by working in harmony with the landscapes they protect.
Together, these concepts establish a holistic framework that moves beyond traditional approaches to stormwater management, positioned as a proactive strategy, designed to absorb, adapt, and deliver long-term benefits to communities. For example, green infrastructure practices such as bioswales, rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable pavements not only mitigate flooding but also improve water quality and promote healthier, more resilient urban environments. When paired with adaptive gray infrastructure, they ensure both reliable performance today and sustained resilience moving forward.
Stormwater management has historically been treated as a challenge in flood control. Specifically, how quickly stormwater can be moved away from developed areas. But as development continues to increase alongside shifting climate patterns that drive more extreme rainfall events, the regulatory requirements have grown in complexity, with the focus shifting to smarter, multifunctional, and adaptive systems. Resilient and sustainable stormwater design is now about anticipating the “what if,” preparing for the “when,” and ensuring that systems can recover quickly while continuing to serve communities well into the future.
Technology plays an essential role in this evolution. Advances such as real-time controls, geospatial analytics, and integrated data enable engineers to analyze a broader range of conditions for stormwater planning. At the forefront of this shift is Streamline Technologies’ widely accepted hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) modeling software, StormWise.
For over four decades, StormWise (formerly ICPR4) has been a trusted tool leveraged by design engineers for stormwater management. With StormWise, engineers can design smarter, safer, and more sustainable stormwater systems. StormWise has been a cornerstone in advancing resilient and sustainable stormwater management and continues to set the standard.
StormWise is an application developed by engineers for engineers to simulate complex, real-world conditions, featuring multiple capabilities and flexibility. Through the integration of 1D surface flow, 2D overland flow, and 2D groundwater interactions, it delivers a comprehensive approach to hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis of both man-made and natural systems. These capabilities and flexibility enable engineers to evaluate and refine designs for standard storm events as well as extreme scenarios – assessing vulnerabilities, testing solutions, and optimizing investments in alignment with long-term resilience and performance objectives.
In addition, StormWise supports compliance with FEMA and regulatory standards, strengthens planning across a full spectrum of conditions, and provides a foundation for designing infrastructure that is resilient, sustainable, and cost-effective. With the engine’s robust geospatial integration, adaptive mesh modeling, and dynamic visualization, StormWise equips professionals with the necessary tools to design resilient and sustainable infrastructure, empowering communities to make informed decisions with confidence.
In short, StormWise is more than software; it is a critical partner in making communities resilient and sustainable, turning innovation into real-world outcomes.
The future of stormwater management will be defined by those who embrace resiliency and sustainability not as aspirational goals, but as practical, achievable strategies. By integrating natural systems, modern engineering, and advanced modeling tools, communities can build infrastructure that is both flexible and capable of delivering lasting value for future generations.
Streamline Technologies remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing resilient and sustainable solutions. Drawing on decades of expertise and the proven capabilities of StormWise, we enable engineers, planners, and decision-makers to transform stormwater challenges into opportunities that strengthen communities, protect the environment, and ensure a more sustainable tomorrow, today.
Stormwater represents more than runoff; it reflects a community’s capacity for foresight, adaptability, and responsible stewardship. With resilience and sustainability as guiding principles, and the right technologies in place, communities can meet the challenges of today while designing systems that safeguard lives, protect natural resources, and effectively address the increasing complexities of stormwater management for generations to come.
Contact our team to learn more about our cutting-edge stormwater management solutions and join us in our mission of improved resiliency and sustainability in the world around us!