Water resource challenges are increasing in severity and frequency, resulting in negative ecological, social, and economic impacts to communities. This is particularly true for the impacts of nonpoint source pollution, despite efforts to mitigate it in the United States (e.g., Stets et al. 2020). Nonpoint source pollution cannot be managed effectively on a community-by-community basis. Rather, management must occur on a watershed scale. This can be problematic, given that land and water management traditionally have been based on jurisdictional boundaries, whereas watersheds cross multiple political and jurisdictional boundaries (Uitto and Duda 2002).

Urban stormwater, runoff from largely impervious surfaces including streets, sidewalks, parking lots, roofs, and in some cases, turf grass, is a major source of nonpoint source pollution. As runoff flows across and down the landscape, it collects and transports sediment, nutrients, chlorides, pathogens, toxic contaminants, and debris. In excess, these pollute our communities' lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater resources (UMN WRC 2011;