Stormwater Information
Stormwater Runoff is a Big Problem
As subdivisions pop up along our rapidly developing coast, stormwater runoff becomes a big problem in our communities. What were once natural landscapes with porous surfaces that trapped rainwater, allowing it to seep, or infiltrate, into the ground, become covered with buildings, rooftops, driveways, sidewalks, streets, and parking lots.
Did you know that impervious surfaces like pavement and rooftops cause a typical city block to produce more than five times as much runoff as a woodland area of the same size?
These hard, relatively smooth, impervious surfaces prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground and replenishing groundwater supplies. Instead, most of it remains above the land surface, where it collects and runs downhill over the smooth surfaces rapidly and in unnaturally large amounts towards streams, rivers, and the Bay. Stormwater runoff causes flooding and erosion and carries pollutants like dirt, clay, oil, chemicals, pet waste, and fertilizers into our streams, rivers, and bays without any kind of treatment or purification.
