Stormwater Run-Off
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Urbanization has destroyed the natural filtration that water goes through before re-entering the water table. Furthermore, during heavy storms, water can overload sewers, which causes untreated sewage to overflow into lakes and rivers.
Polluted storm water runoff can have detrimental effects on animals, plants, fish, and people.
- Sediment – often clouds water and makes it nearly impossible for aquatic plants to thrive.
- Bacteria – can wash into public swimming locations and create extreme health hazards, often making beach closures necessary.
- Debris – plastic (including bags, beer holders, and bottles) cigarette butts and garbage, wash into local bodies of water and can choke, suffocate, or disable aquatic life.
- Household hazardous waste – insecticides, pesticides, paint, solvents, used motor oil, and other fluids, poison aquatic life. More and more cases of sickness and death in animals and humans are arising from ingesting food which has been in some way contaminated by these hazardous wastes.
Polluted storm water often affects drinking water sources. This, in turn, can affect human health and increase drinking water treatment costs.
The installation of rain barrels and backyard ponds minimizes the water that directly enters sewers. A water garden can serve as a final collection point for runoff after a series of swales and channels. Water-based pollutants can be filtered by vegetation, filter traps and the settling action in the pond itself.
For more information about storm water run-off, please see the articles below.
