Managing Stormwater

Anytime it rains, water accumulates on hard surfaces such as streets, sidewalks, driveways. When you see it flowing down the side of the street—that is stormwater runoff. Even if that water flows into a storm drain, that storm drain will eventually discharge the water into a stream or river. 

 

Things that affect stormwater runoff (and sometimes make it difficult to manage—either in volume or in terms of our water quality)—include the following:

• heavy rainfall

• too much impervious surface

• inadequate or poorly designed drainage basins.

 

The possible negative outcomes (and you’ve seen them, probably with increasing frequency and degree) include all of these:

• flash flooding

• pollutants and debris entering our local waterways

• streambank erosion

• unhealthy sediment buildup in stream beds

• depleted aquifers

• various threats to human health

• possible restrictions on recreational use of water resources.

 

If your home has 2,000 square feet of impervious surfaces (roof, driveway, etc.), that equals 1,246 gallons of stormwater runoff that needs to be managed (about the volume of water in an “average” 

10’x10’ pond). And that’s just for a typical rainstorm. 

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Source: Dry's Run Watershed Association