Table 5. Impervious Cover (%) for Various Land Uses

Land Use Density

(dwelling units/acre)

Source
Northern Virginia (NVPDC, 1980)1 Olympia (COPWD, 1995) Puget Sound (Aqua Terra, 1994) NRCS

(USDA, 1986)

Rouge River

(Kluitenberg, 1994)

Model Default2
Low Density Residential <0.5 6 - 10 - 19 10
0.5 - - 10 12
1 12 - 10 20
Medium Density Residential 2 18 - - 25 30
3 20 40 40 30
4 25 40 40 38
High Density Residential 5-7 35 40 40 - 38 40
Multifamily Townhouse (>7) 35-50 48 60 65 - 60
Industrial -- 60-80 86 90 72 76 75
Commercial -- 90-95 86 90 85 56 85
Roadway 80
1: NVPDC data measure effective impervious cover (i.e., rooftops are not included in residential data)

2: Model default values are approximately equal to the median of Olympia, Puget Sound, NRCS, and Rouge River data, with adjustments made where studies estimate impervious cover for a broad range of densities.