The Illinois Urban Manual Update Initiative
Illinois Urban Manual (IUM) contains practice standards that protect urban natural resources from the impacts of development and impervious surface runoff. Examples include: Retention and detention basins, sediment traps, silt fence, temporary seeding, contained on-site concrete washout areas, rolled erosion control blankets, etc.
A multi-organization committee has been meeting for several years to find a way to update the IUM. The manual had originally been developed by NRCS with funding from US EPA. Latter revisions were also completed by NRCS as well. Recent budget problems have reduced NRCS’ ability to work on programs not directly related to the National Farm Bill. For that reason, the multi-organization group asked the AISWCD to seek funding for the process of updating the IUM and to accept ownership.
The Association applied for two grants and has received $42,500 from the Grand Victoria Foundation and stands to receive more than $400,000 from the US and Illinois EPA. The majority or the funds are to go to engineering assistance for completing the revision. The multi-organization committee (IUM Steering Committee) has asked the Association to write two documents; the first is an Interagency Cooperation Agreement (ICA) and the second is a contract for engineering services.
DRAFT STANDARDS AVAILABLE FOR TECHNICAL REVIEW