Storm Water Design Manual

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Design Manual (revised January 1, 2014) provides technical and engineering procedures to assist in the design and evaluation of stormwater management facilities in the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. It provides engineering design guidance to:

  • local agencies responsible for implementing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Management Program
  • engineers responsible for the design of stormwater management structures
  • developers involved in site planning and design
  • others involved in stormwater management at various levels who may find the manual useful as a technical reference to define and illustrate engineering design techniques

Notice: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services revised the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Design Manual (Revised January 1, 2014). Proposed changes were needed to remove outdated methodologies, clarify standards and address formatting concerns. This is now an electronic, fully searchable document. A revision log of the individual changes to each chapter has been provided on this page.


View a list of Jan 2014 revisions(PDF, 81KB)


View the public review comments and resolutions(PDF, 216KB)


Cover Sheet(PDF, 38KB)


Table of Contents(PDF, 48KB)


Chapter 1 - Introduction(PDF, 47KB)


Chapter 2 - Hydrology(PDF, 542KB)


Chapter 3 - Open Channel Hydraulics(PDF, 2MB)


Chapter 4 - Storm Drainage Systems(PDF, 1MB)


Chapter 5 - Design of Culverts(PDF, 4MB)


Chapter 6 - Storage and Detention(PDF, 393KB)


Chapter 7 - Energy Dissipation(PDF, 1MB)


References(PDF, 24KB)