What is stormwater?
Rain and melted snow flow over land into storm drains, streams, rivers, and lakes.
In natural landscapes, stormwater is soaked up like a sponge, and goes on to nourishes plants and slowly replenish streams, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers.
In more urban areas, impervious or hard surfaces such as asphalt, concrete, and rooftops prevent stormwater from naturally soaking into the ground. Instead, the water runs quickly into storm drains and sewer systems, and then to our lakes and rivers.
Hard urban surface areas thus create more stormwater runoff, which carries more pollutants such as oil, grit, and garbage into our lakes and rivers.
Why is stormwater an issue?
Stormwater that does not soak into the ground flows into rivers, ponds and lakes. The runoff can contain chemicals, sediment, and trash.
It is important to monitor stormwater runoff - first, to track how much and how often which can result in flooding, and second, to track the amount of contaminants the water carries.
The Stormwater Management Plan is intended to help lower the danger of runoff, and protect our roads and structures, with a fully functional storm sewer system.
