Book: Working Water


Working Water: Reinventing the Storm Drain is a practice-based resource that describes what the future of urban stormwater infrastructure can be when employing natural processes and systems. The three-part book includes the following:

PART ONE is a teaching tool that describes basic stormwater management concepts and principles - in layman’s terms - for students, public officials, and interested public. It describes the impacts of urbanization on natural waterways and principles for the design of more resilient projects and systems.

PART TWO is a monograph illustrating a broad array of project examples designed by Wenk Associates landscape architects that demonstrate more sustainable and resilient solutions for the design of urban stormwater resources project examples. Planned and constructed green infrastructure projects, that range from site to system scales, illustrate environmentally friendly ways of managing stormwater while improving civic value and natural qualities. Most of the project examples include an illustrated plan view and a water diagram to demonstrate how the water systems work.

PART THREE is a resource guide for better project design and strategies for implementation of large-scale systems. This section describes lessons learned and approaches to the design of more successful projects, and how to overcome barriers to implementing larger scale systems.

Please enjoy a flip through video of our new book here.

Working Water is now available for purchase online or through your local bookstore.

A book review by Colorado State University professors Lori Catalano, ASLA, and Kelly Curl was published on June 6, 2022 on ASLA's THE DIRT blog.