"Clean and plentiful water is essential to healthy and prosperous communities. Yet as we enter the 21st century, swelling demand, poor development practices, and changing climate patterns are draining rivers and aquifers, and pollution is threatening the quality of what remains.

The lakes, rivers, and beaches where we swim, fish, and boat depend on healthy streams and wetlands upstream. Streams and wetlands help filter out water pollution, ensure a reliable water supply, and provide important wildlife habitat.

Stormwater runoff from roads and highways pollutes and erodes our nation's water bodies, imposing health, financial, and environmental costs on local communities.

These costs can be avoided or significantly reduced by ensuring that our roadways incorporate runoff controls that retain stormwater onsite. Green infrastructure, in particular, is an especially effective method for retaining stormwater that also generates a wide range of economic and social benefits beyond improved water quality. To ensure that these benefits are enjoyed by communities across the United States, legislative and administrative decision makers at the federal and state levels should provide incentives and requirements for these controls to be implemented at all road and highway facilities."