A game theory analysis of green infrastructure stormwater management policies
Abstract
Green stormwater infrastructure has been demonstrated as an innovative water resources management approach that addresses multiple challenges facing urban environments. However, there is little consensus on what policy strategies can be used to best incentivize green infrastructure adoption by private landowners. Game theory, an analysis framework that has historically been under‐utilized within the context of stormwater management, is uniquely suited to address this policy question. We used a cooperative game theory framework to investigate the potential impacts of different policy strategies used to incentivize green infrastructure installation. The results indicate that municipal regulation leads to the greatest reduction in pollutant loading. However, the choice of the “best” regulatory approach will depend on a variety of different factors including politics and financial considerations. Large, downstream agents have a disproportionate share of bargaining power. Results also reveal that policy impacts are highly dependent on agents' spatial position within the stormwater network, leading to important questions of social equity and environmental justice.
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The implementation of fees and fee reductions is a highly local decision.
“making the implementation of fees and fee reductions a highly local decision (Fedorchak et al. 2017;William et al. 2017William et al. , 2020)).”
From Phase II MS4 challenges: moving toward effective stormwater management for small municipalities (2022) · cites this paper as William et al. 2017
Fee reductions may be effective in incentivizing BMP installations on private property, but may also exacerbate inequity in certain communities.
“Fee reductions may be effective in incentivizing BMP installations on private property, but may also exacerbate inequity in certain communities”
From Phase II MS4 challenges: moving toward effective stormwater management for small municipalities (2022) · cites this paper as William et al. 2017
The effectiveness of stormwater funding strategies varies with local socio-political and environmental factors.
“Municipalities will benefit most from a funding strategy tailored to their community, given that the above strategies will have differing effectiveness based on highly local socio-political and environmental factors (William et al. 2017(William et al. , 2020)).”
From Phase II MS4 challenges: moving toward effective stormwater management for small municipalities (2022) · cites this paper as William et al. 2017
Fees based on some measure of per-unit runoff or impervious cover level from parcels may not always be the most effective at abating pollution.
“though they may not always be the most effective at abating pollution (William et al. 2017).”
From Phase II MS4 challenges: moving toward effective stormwater management for small municipalities (2022) · cites this paper as William et al. 2017
Cited by
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Zuniga-Teran, A. A., Gerlak, A. K., Elder, A. D., & Tam, A. (2021) · Environmental Science & Policy · doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2021.10.001 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Phase II MS4 challenges: moving toward effective stormwater management for small municipalities
Rieck, L., Carson, C., Hawley, R. J., Heller, M., Paul, M., Scoggins, M., Zimmerman, M., & Smith, R. F. (2022) · Urban Ecosystems · doi:10.1007/s11252-021-01179-3 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- William, R., Garg, J., & Stillwell, A. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stillwell, Ashlynn S.
- Venue
- Water Resources Research
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2017-09
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 8003-8019
- ISSN
- 0043-1397 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-7973
- OpenAlex
- W2751209301
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 1.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Water Resources Research (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Water resources management and optimization
- Keywords
- green stormwater infrastructure, cooperative game theory, municipal regulation, bargaining power, social equity, environmental justice, urban water management
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