Stormwater Best Management
Stormwater is just as it sounds, it is water from a storm. Rain, hail and snow are all considered stormwater. Once precipitation makes landfall, it can take a couple different routes. In a natural landscape without development, it can either soak into the soil or be guided into bodies of water through storm drains. In an urban setting, stormwater falls on impervious surfaces such as roads, sidewalks or parking lots and is not soaked into the ground. It instead becomes runoff. If not treated and managed properly, runoff can pose a risk to our health and safety, because pollutants tend to accumulate on surfaces that don't absorb water well.
Through the Stormwater Best Management Practices Program, the City of Des Moines provides recommendations residents can implement to help enhance the water quality of stormwater runoff and/or decrease the amount of stormwater runoff that enters the stormwater drainage system.
With the program, the City will reimburse 50% of the cost (up to $2,000) to the property owners who meet the requirements of the program as listed in the key elements below. The reimbursement for approved work will be by direct payment to the property owner in the amount of the qualifying work.
The work must have been performed and completed between the dates of January 1, 2017, and June 30, 2023, to be eligible for the subsidy program.
For those living outside the City of Des Moines, follow Polk Soil and Water Conservation District's #RainCampaign for information about stormwater management programs available across the metro area. Additional information can also be found through the Iowa Stormwater Education Partnership.
Help your property reduce flood risk for your neighbors
