subject: What is Stormwater? [print this page] What is Stormwater? What is Stormwater?
At last, people have recognized the fact that global warming has indeed spread worldwide. The effects are very alarming and have caused everyone to go greener in their way of living. One of the effects of global warming is stormwater. This happens when melted snow and rain flows down from the mountains and sky and into the drainage systems of the cities instead of seeping into the ground.
Stormwater is one of the most significant threats to waterways. One of the key factors that contribute to stormwater is urbanization because the cities are packed with roads, neighborhood, school and office buildings and shopping centers; the natural drainage system of nature is disrupted. This results to disastrous events like land erosion, floods and pollutes water forms like rivers, streams and lakes.
Pollutants that run off to the water like pesticides, fertilizers and oil are very harmful even in smaller quantities. Other materials like sediments, soil and pet waste also pollute the water in bigger quantities. Runoff happens anywhere where people have altered the land.
In America, polluted stormwater is becoming a threat to the people. This in turn affects the life of the public and the wildlife. People who use surface water for drinking must clean up the polluted water before drinking. Likewise, when rain falls hard, it will not seep to the ground therefore causing floods. That is why, storm water systems are being used to avoid these from happening.
Stormwater best management practices are developed. This is the term used to describe on how to keep pollutants out of runoff and to slow down big quantities of runoff. One of the ways is educating the residents on how they can help prevent pollution from entering the waterways. There are also laws governing earth-disturbing businesses like construction and agriculture.
Educating the people and governing laws are two of the common stormwater best management practices done. Furthermore, BMPs are also constructed to slow down stormwater and reduce pollutants that are already in it. People can benefit a lot from these BMPs that can really make their way of living much better.
