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Stormwater
Stormwater is runoff water from rain that flows off rooftops, paved areas, bare soil, and lawns, gathering from puddles, to ditches, to streams, and flowing into our lakes and rivers. Along the way, stormwater picks up pollutants – including automobile fluids (such as oil, gasoline, and antifreeze), pesticides, fertilizers, sediment, pet waste, and litter – and deposits them into the rivers and lakes that supply our drinking water. Fertilizers contain nitrogen and phosphorous, which promote algae growth. Excess algae combined with sediment and toxic chemicals severely damage water quality, killing aquatic life and making the water unfit to drink. Not only are we drinking and swimming in stormwater runoff, but we pay the price of additional chemicals and treatments necessary to make our water safe to drink.
New development increases stormwater runoff into the lakes and rivers that supply our water. The more impervious surfaces – including sidewalks, streets, and rooftops – that exist, the more stormwater runoff results. In addition to picking up and carrying more sediments and pollutants, this increased velocity of stormwater erodes stream banks, further contributing to water degradation. Moreover, allowances for developers to emit more than the annual state-permitted amount of nitrogen into the watershed degrades our water supplies even more. Drinking water treatments and stream restorations are costly (and usually paid for with taxpayer money) and could be prevented by better stormwater management.
To protect existing and future drinking water supplies, we must enact stricter stormwater regulations, create incentives to capture and reuse stormwater, and increase land conservation and stream restoration. Considering the concurrent problems of water quantity and quality, improving stormwater practices can help us address both issues at once. Reducing stormwater pollution improves water quality; using stormwater for irrigation and other non-potable purposes extends our limited groundwater supply; and increasing infiltration of stormwater enlarges our water supply. With appropriate stormwater management and land development practices, stormwater can be an asset rather than a liability.
Municipalities and counties should revise their ordinances to make better stormwater practices mandatory. Many opportunities exist to keep rainwater on site, and should be implemented in new and existing development. These include: low-impact development design, rainwater capture and reuse through cisterns and other stormwater storage devices, rain gardens, permeable pavers to cut down on impervious surfaces, and green infrastructure that uses soil and vegetation to manage and treat rainwater naturally.
Low impact development (LID) is a land use planning and design approach that helps limit environmental degradation from growth and development. Integrating stormwater practices into site design and implementing on-site features to reduce stormwater runoff and increase ground water recharge, LID ensures that development happens with an eye toward protecting water quality and environmental integrity. North Carolina State University initiated the NC LID Group, a clearinghouse of information on the principles of low impact development to improve understanding, and ultimately implementation, of LID projects. Low impact development encompasses the concepts and tools that could be key to cleaning up Falls Lake and Jordan Lake, Wake County's drinking water reservoirs. Click here to access the Low Impact Development Guidebook for North Carolina.
Rain gardens are one LID practice that individual citizens can implement to improve water quality and quantity. A rain garden is planted in a depression to allow rainwater that runs off of impervious surfaces like roofs, driveways, walkways, and compacted lawn areas the opportunity to be absorbed. This increases infiltration of rainwater, enhancing groundwater resources, and reduces the volume of stormwater, decreasing water pollution and erosion. To learn more about rain gardens, go to Wikipedia or this Wake County resident’s rain garden blog. Remember though that while personal actions to help solve the our water problems are very important, you can have an even greater impact by advocating for policy changes that require Wake County and its municipalities to improve stormwater management.
In early 2006, the Wake County Board of Commissioners appointed the Stormwater Management Task Force to create a vision for the Triangle region, and to develop recommendations to address the challenges facing the County with regard to stormwater: pollutants, construction activity, increased impervious surfaces, stormwater volume and peak flow and their impact on stream quality. Go to the Stormwater Management Task Force website for more information. Specifically, the Task Force was asked to:
- Review and assess current and future stormwater levels of services
- Identify citizen expectations for stormwater services
- Develop recommendations for a Countywide Collaborative Stormwater program
- Develop funding recommendations where appropriate
- Develop an implementation plan
WakeUP is advocating for Wake County to implement the Stormwater Task Force recommendations and Five-Year Implementation Plan.
