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Best Management Practice Fact Sheet 1: Rooftop Disconnection

ID

426-120 (BSE-269P)

Authors as Published

Authored by David J. Sample, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech; Laurie J. Fox, Research Associate, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech; and Carol Hendrix, student, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech


This publication is available in an enhanced digital version and PDF.

This fact sheet is one of a 15-part series on urban stormwater management practices.

Please refer to definitions in the glossary at the end of this fact sheet. Glossary terms are italicized on first mention in the text. For a comprehensive list, see “Urban Stormwater: Terms and Definitions,” Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) publication 426-119.

Rooftop disconnection (RD) is one of the simplest means of reducing stormwater from residential lots. RD takes roof runoff that has been collected in gutters and piped directly to streets, storm drains, and streams and redirects it away from impervious surfaces to landscaped areas (figure 1). Rooftop disconnection is a very sustainable best management practice (BMP) because it controls pollutants in runoff near their source. Redirected runoff from downspouts is infiltrated, filtered, treated, or reused prior to draining into a stormwater conveyance system.


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Publication Date

December 4, 2019