Soak it Up! Toolkit

16 actions your municipality can take to reduce runoff and runoff pollution.

The Soak it up! Toolkit and the Stormwater Scorecard are resources that support decision-makers and influencers in implementing policies and programs to manage rain where it falls.

The Soak It Up! Toolkit outlines 16 actions your municipality can take to reduce runoff and runoff pollution, providing examples of what other communities are doing and insights from practitioners about what works, and what doesn’t. The actions range from community engagement and capacity building, to implementing green infrastructure on public property (green streets, alleys, and parks), requiring and incentivizing action in new development, supporting the urban forest and healthy soils, and strategies for retrofitting existing developed lands.

The Stormwater Scorecard accompanies the toolkit, and allows you to conduct an in-depth analysis of your community’s existing policies, plans, and programs around green infrastructure and stormwater management. Anyone with an interest (decision-makers, stormwater managers, community groups, members of the public) can fill it out to evaluate what their community is doing, and what they could be doing, to reduce runoff and runoff pollution.

Download the Soak It Up! Toolkit and the Stormwater Scorecard!

Read the results of our survey evaluating the stormwater policies of 30 Canadian communities.

Fill in the survey to contribute to benchmarking municipal stormwater policy across Canada.

The Stormwater Scorecard and the 2017 updates to the Soak it up! Toolkit were done in collaboration with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance and the Our Living Waters Network, with funding from Tides Canada and Mountain Equipment Coop.

The first draft of the Soak it up! Toolkit was supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Comments are welcome! Contact us to let us know what you think.

 

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