Stormwater Retention Credit Trading Program - SRCs and Offv

The Stormwater Retention Credit (SRC) Trading program provides property owners the flexibility to comply with the District’s stormwater management requirements for construction and renovation projects by purchasing or generating SRCs.

This program creates a publicly traded market where businesses and property owners can generate SRCs from voluntary projects that do not have stormwater management requirements and sell them to property owners who need to comply.

Learn more on this page and in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Stormwater Management Guidebook.

What are stormwater management requirements?

New construction and renovation projects in the District that trigger the Stormwater Rule https://doee.dc.gov/swregs are called “major regulated projects” and must retain a specific Stormwater Retention Volume (SWRv) for the project site. The goal is to prevent pollution from reaching the District’s rivers and streams.

Property owners always have the option to retain the required SWRv fully on the project site or up to 50% off-site. If the project is in the Gray Combined Sewer System (CSS) area, there is a waiver that provides more flexibility, allowing the owner to comply with 100% of the SWRv off-site.

What is an Offv?

Choosing to retain some of the SWRv off-site creates an Off-Site Retention Volume (Offv) requirement that the property owner complies with by using SRCs. An Offv can provide flexibility to build more amenities at your project site or to accommodate site constraints.

There are two options to comply with an Offv requirement:

Purchase High-Impact SRCs through the SRC Registry.

Self-generate SRCs from another project you own.

High-Impact SRCs can comply with any type of Offv requirement and are the type you can purchase. If you generate your own SRCs, you may have options to use various types of Low-Impact SRCs. In most cases, 1 SRC = 1 gallon of Offv per year.

The SWRv and the Offv are annual, ongoing, legal requirements stated in a stormwater management plan (SWMP) that DOEE approves before the project can begin construction. The Offv requirement transfers to each new property owner and remains in effect until the site is redeveloped under a new SWMP that changes the required SWRv and Offv amounts.

Projects in the Gray CSS may be eligible for a Permanent Offv Compliance option, which ends the Offv requirement by using 30-years’ worth of High-Impact SRCs up front. Reach out to [email protected] for more information.

What are SRCs?

An SRC is a tradeable unit that DOEE certifies for one gallon of stormwater retention capacity per year for installing green infrastructure, like rain gardens and green roofs, which reduce stormwater runoff and help prevent pollutants from entering the District’s rivers and streams.

There is no expiration date to use an SRC. An SRC can remain “banked” or unused indefinitely.
After an SRC is used or retired, its lifespan ends, and it cannot be used again.
There are High-Impact SRCs and several types of Low-Impact SRCs.
The main use for an SRC is to comply with an Offv requirement.

How to become an SRC seller?

You can install a new, voluntary, green infrastructure project in the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) area to generate High-Impact SRCs, either on your own property or in partnership with an SRC Aggregator.

Learn about the SRC Market – Use the SRC Registry to find SRCs for sale, SRC sale prices, and more market data.
SRC Sellers – The SRC Price Lock Program helps lock in an SRC sale price with DOEE for your green infrastructure project in the MS4 area.
Property owners – Find an SRC Aggregator to partner with.
Program Resources – Use the links at the bottom of this page to learn more.