When it rains, it pours they say, but in actuality, when it rains, the rain washes an excessive amount of pollution along with it wherever it flows. It is imperative that companies like GENI Stormwater Management work with construction companies and land developers to ensure that systems are in place to adequately control the flow of stormwater to keep these pollutants and sediment out of our water supply. Understanding what stormwater is and the threat it holds will help you to better understand the need for stormwater management, and why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working hard to protect our water from stormwater.
What Exactly is Stormwater?
According to the EPA, stormwater is the rainwater or melted snow that comes off streets, lawns, and other areas. The stormwater that is seeped into the ground goes through its own version of filtration before eventually making its way into streams and rivers via the ground. However, there are areas where the water is unable to soak into the ground and instead continues to flow over houses and pavement. As the water travels, it picks up pollutants from what it is flowing over, before eventually dumping into a storm drain, drainage ditch, or sewer system. The storm drains and sewers should not be confused with sanitary sewers like those used to transport human and industrial waste, says the District of Columbia Department of Environment. Stormwater does not enter a treatment facility like other wastewater before being reintroduced into rivers, streams, and other bodies of water, and therein lays one of the major problems.
How Can You Help to Reduce Stormwater?
There are ways in which you can make your own property more eco-friendly when it comes to promoting an increase in ground water. Having additional foliage on your property is one way that you will greatly increase the chance that water will seep into the ground rather than roll off your property and into the nearest storm drain. This is especially important if you are living in an urban area with little by ways of a tree canopy. There are many benefits to planting trees in addition to promoting ground water as they have aesthetic appeal, they can increase the value of your property, they serve as a habitat for wildlife, and they promote cleaner air. You can feel really great about all of the benefits of your decision to plant a few extra trees on your property.
Finding Solutions to the Problem
The EPA has done their part by ways of Federal regulations that must be followed when they put in place their Executive Order (EO) 13514 in October of 2009 stormwater was also addressed in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and EO 13423. It is also through the work of companies like GENI stormwater management that land developers and construction crews are able to reduce the negative impact they are having on the environment when it rains. Stormwater does not have to continue to be a problem if we all work together to make it a problem of the past.
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Carolyn T. is a school teacher who specializes in environmental issues.