As land use intensifies, surface water runoff increases and evapotranspiration diminishes. This pattern is common in the urban environment and highlights the need for creative alternatives that can help reduce water runoff and increase groundwater infiltration in the face of continued growth.

It is widely recognized that urbanization brings increased peak storm flows and decreased summer flows to streams. This results from the increase in impervious surface and decrease in groundwater infiltration. It has been clearly demonstrated that minimizing development impact on native soils and forests, and restoring impacted soils with compost, can reduce peak storm flows and increase infiltration.