Growing cities and expanding impervious footprints from buildings and pavements continue to strain municipal storm systems. This strain is shifting modern stormwater management to distributed source-point management, away from rapid stormwater evacuation. "Blue Roofs" represent a critical advancement in source-point control, using building rooftops that are very low-sloped to manage stormwater at the initial contact point. Unlike standard low-slope roofing systems designed for immediate drainage, blue roofs intentionally detain or retain water, serving as a powerful substitute for traditional ground-level stormwater basins and storage vaults, especially for challenging project sites that include one or more of the following: high water table, lot line to lot line development, sloping site, and or brownfield site. Blue Roofs are most often incorporated into vegetated roof systems and paver amenity spaces.
