Why Stormwater Runoff Poses An Increasing Challenge For Virginia

Henry James26 Apr, 2022Business

Contaminated stormwater runoff is often directed to individual city sewer systems and ultimately discharged into local rivers and streams without treatment. If left unchecked, rainwater running off rooftops and driveways collects pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, vehicle fluids, and animal waste and carries pollutants such as fertilizers to storm drains or nearby bodies of water. Instead of being absorbed by the ground, much of the rainwater in urban or suburban areas runs off impervious surfaces into roof drains or street culverts and from there into sewers. As cities and suburbs develop, builders often clear forests to make way for impermeable surfaces that allow rainwater to freely enter local watercourses. During rain, storms and other precipitation, impervious surfaces (roads along with roofs) carry contaminated rainwater into storm drains instead of allowing the water to seep through the soil.