Thomas Liptan introduces his new book,
Sustainable Stormwater Management, by recounting an
aha! moment early in his career as a landscape architect. While working on a parking lot design, the project’s engineer urged putting the water “in the landscape.” That is what they did, effectively directing the runoff to shallow gardens for absorption and filtration.
As Liptan’s career progressed, he discovered this was very unusual thinking for the time (1978). However, he continued to seek opportunities to further this design concept, his guiding principle being “we continually underestimate the capacity of our built environment to manage rain and runoff, just as we underutilize rainfall’s benefit to soil and plants.”
This book is an easy-to-read summation of the lessons the author has learned over his career, and is recommended for anyone considering stormwater management projects, large or small. He is both upbeat in encouraging innovation and pragmatic in the need to have results that are functional, economically sound, long-lasting, and look good.
Most engaging are the many case studies and the practicalities of choosing plants and structural materials. Liptan has worked in Portland for many years and uses this city for many of his examples. Given our similar climate, rainfall, and interest in sustainable development, this is an excellent book for projects in the Seattle area, too.
