Working Water demonstrates better approaches of managing urban water resources in ways that support more efficient water use, clean urban runoff, support natural systems, and enhance the vitality and livability of our cities. Exploring the potentials of urban water resources is an important part of Wenk Associates landscape architects' practice, and the focus of this book. Working Water  evolved as a reflection on over thirty-five years of the firm's professional work and is organized in three parts. The first part is a teaching tool for students and the interested public. The second part is a monograph describing selected projects of the firm and their value as civic and natural resources in addition to their essential function of stormwater control. The third part is a resource manual describing lessons learned after decades of observing project successes and failures and ways to overcome legal, financial, and institutional barriers to implementing green infrastructure at a system scale. "'Reinventing the Stormdrain' is a refreshing take on the monograph.   The book is a visual treat—multi-dimensional with beautiful, fresh photos and gorgeous hand drawings.  It is also a timely call-to-action from a pioneer whose work has been dedicated to water conservation in design.  Bill Wenk generously shares his insights from decades of leading the integration of water systems into place-based designs beloved by their communities.   Bill’s foundation of land ethics, ingrained growing up on a Michigan farm, comes through in the beauty, simplicity, and elegance of nature-based design.  A tremendous contribution to communicating across the ecology of people that influence the built environment about the urgency and the opportunities of designing systemically with water." —Deb Guenther, FASLA, Mithun "...Working Water reconsiders the lowly storm drain, presenting a baker's dozen of case studies (some built, some in proposal) that elevate stormwater systems into landscapes of habitat renewal and community gathering."  --Landscape Architecture Magazine Bill Wenk is founder of Wenk Associates, Inc., a Denver-based landscape architectural firm. For over 40 years, Bill has been influential in the restoration and redevelopment of urban river and waterfronts, the implementation of green infrastructure systems, and the design of public parks and open spaces. He is recognized nationally for utilizing stormwater as a resource. Bill's extensive portfolio includes a master plan for the reclamation of the 32-mile Los Angeles River corridor in California; green infrastructure planning and implementation for the redevelopment of abandoned railyards, and restoration of the Menomonee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and transformation of the South Platte River Valley in the heart of Denver into a mosaic of parks, open spaces, and in-fill development. All projects focus on site and district-scale infrastructure systems that incorporate stormwater as a multi-benefit resource.Bill lectures frequently at universities and conferences across the nation on the integration of stormwater systems and public space as a component of green infrastructure. He served on a National Science Foundation committee assembled to recommend revisions to Federal rules and regulations governing nonpoint source stormwater pollution. He has served as a visiting professor at several universities. Bill holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Science, Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University and is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.