Taxing for stormwater drainage systems

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Urban Planning
• Public Finance

Background:

• Urban drainage systems face challenges in self-financing.
• Increasing urbanization necessitates sustainable infrastructure funding models.
• Conventional drainage requires significant investment and maintenance costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of a self-financing tax for urban drainage.
• To compare the costs of conventional drainage with source control alternatives.
• To determine factors influencing the tax burden on urban areas.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of average implementation and maintenance costs for drainage services.
• Evaluation of conventional drainage systems.
• Assessment of source control methods, specifically on-lot water detention.
• Modeling tax charges based on impermeable surface area and urban density.

Main Results:

• A tax structure can be defined to individualize charges based on service costs.
• Taxable values vary with impermeable surface area and urban density.
• Source control approaches, including on-lot detention, present viable alternatives.
• Preserving natural creeks is identified as a cost-effective strategy.

Conclusions:

• Urban drainage can be made self-financing through a well-defined tax system.
• Source control and natural creek preservation offer lower investment and user burden.
• Policy implications favor decentralized, nature-based solutions for sustainable urban water management.