The Epidemic Of Stormwater Pollution

In 1960, Lake Erie was very polluted A lot of the cities such as Toledo, Sandusky, and Port Clinton’s waste was dumped into Lake Erie. Many of the factories that were surrounding the lake erie would dump their waste into the river, which was the cause of a lot of the pollution. Pesticides and chemicals from nearby farms washed off into the river whenever it rained, so the chemicals started to pollute the river. The cities that surround the near by river or lake paid a huge amount of money to get new sewer systems to help keep the water clean. This major source of freshwater is critical to the survival of the entire ecosystem and must be protected at all costs.

At this point, both of the rivers need to be completely detoxified, imagine a world where you could frolic in the Hudson. Projects have been undertaken to try and clean both, but what we need is a huge commitment in terms of money and time to actually make a meaningful impact. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the pollution, a cleanup has

It has came to mind that the Big Sioux River located in the Eastern Part of South Dakota is a very polluted river. It is so polluted that its the 13th highest polluted water source in the United States. Therefore the people around this river, this is a very important to the people around because this is there main water source. People may ask why is this river so polluted and its because of the toxic waste from us humans. Every time you go to the bathroom all this waste ends up going into the river and even when you take a shower all the chemicals that go in your hair or for your body from the soap end up going into the river.

One of the recurring problems at Howard County is the large quantities of stormwater runoff that flow into nearby streams. This is due to meteorological factors and physical characteristics including: land use changes. The more impervious surfaces there are the more surface runoff there will be; thus, placing adverse effects upon the environment. To be exact, these stormwater runoffs carry car oils, fertilizers, pet waste, litter, and sediment to the Chesapeake bay. Hence, 20% of the chesapeake bay’s pollution is due to stormwater runoff. However, not only does storm water contribute to pollution, but it also harms wildlife and its environment, as well as cause floods, erosion, and property damage. To address such issue, Howard Community College

Imagine an Earth devoid of clean rivers with no inland marine life or readily available freshwater. This situation may arise if humanity does not volunteer to end its polluting tendencies. Initially, each individual should focus on taking steps towards decontaminating his or her nearest water body. For those living in Delaware, this is the Delaware River, which is in need of drastic reform. “The Delaware River . . . is the fifth most-polluted river in the country, according to a report released . . . by Environment New Jersey” (Augenstein). However, this obstacle did not arise spontaneously. A recognized problem by the early eighteenth century, Delaware River pollution remained a serious issue for the next 300 years and mostly stemmed from rapid population growth and booming industrial activities (“Delaware River Water Quality”). As the years progressed, Delawareans continuously disregarded the Delaware River, and it is now immensely besmirched as a result of accumulating neglect for the river. Because of this, Delaware waters continued to befoul past the threshold of safety. Delaware waterways are currently unsafe for commercial use due to the presence of pollutants and parasites like Giardia and Cryptosporidium in the river that can cause significant health problems, especially in individuals with weakened immune systems (“Delaware”). The polluted Delaware River, sullied by companies despite the Clean Water Act, may cause a decline in Delaware’s’ marine life, human

Storm water is a great danger to the environment because it does not receive any treatment before entering waterways. A storm can overload the system, causing it to reach its max capacity. The water treatment plant is then forced to let the overflowing, untreated, water dump into the river. This leads to an almost opaque water, like that found in the Puget Sound. There is an average of 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage water entering larger bodies of water each year in the United States (Barnett). The rain that falls on surfaces drains into bodies of water through storm water collection systems, usually, without treatment. There is a strong relationship between concrete thickness and imperviousness in residential areas, leading researchers to believe that roads create impervious surfaces. When rain down the streets and rooftops, it absorbs all the harmful materials from those surfaces and flows into the major bays and the Puget Sound. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the remodeling of the aging water system would cost between $300 billion to $1 trillion over the next 20 years (Barnett).

To address this issue, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NYS DEC have recently increased their attention to stormwater management. Explicitly requiring permits for municipalities in New York State that are located near urbanized areas, and have their storm sewer system separate from their sanitary sewer systems. Unlike municipalities with combined sewer systems, an MS4 discharges untreated stormwater directly into the nearest body of water. This type of system can be detrimental for numerous reasons and has ultimately resulted in the EPA’s creation of a federal regulation known as the Stormwater Phase II. It was published in the Federal Register on December 8, 1999 and has since effected every MS4 community in New York State (US EPA, 2005).

Although sewage systems are able to provide a great deal of sanitation to water before it is released back into a source, the risk of raw sewage overflowing into water sources poses several issues. Not only can raw sewage contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli, it can also negatively affect aquatic life. Human waste typically contains high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients that are useful for people but can cause many issues in an aquatic environment (Burkholder et. al., 2011). Much of these elements are removed during wastewater treatment, but if they are sent directly to a water source due to flooding, they can cause algae blooms and harm

Water pollution has become a major problem in our water sources. People think that when they litter or dump in our waters that their little contribution will not hurt anything, but everyone’s little contributions add up to some major problems. Our water ecosystems and the species that reside in them are being destroyed and we need to take the steps necessary to stop this. Why would anyone use the source of most of the world’s food as a dumping ground for garbage? People need to start realizing what it is they are doing when they do not take the proper steps to dispose of their garbage and the problems they are making for the future.

In this research paper I will be talking about the Connecticut River, the common sewer overflow and sewer discharge that goes into the river, I will be focusing on the pollutants that are in the CT river, I will also focus on the high density towns and the affect it has on them, then I will talk about the ecological impacts and economical aspects. The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region, it spans through five states Maine (Small portions), Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, discharging into the Long island sound. The river serves more than two million people throughout New England. The main issue with the river is the untreated storm water and sewer waste that is being discharged into it which causes many harmful effects not only to the many different species that call the CT River its home, but to the people that live around the CT River. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the discharging of combined sewer systems directly into surface waters upon capacity overload, are a large source of pollution of U.S. waterways. A report from the Environment and Connecticut Research and policy center has said that industrial facilities have discharged 224,029 pounds of toxic waste into the Connecticut waterways in the year of 2012. There are many government agencies such as the EPA and committees like the Connecticut River Cleanup Committee that are raising funds and awareness in order to help clean up the Connecticut River

The Duck Creek watershed in Scott County, IA is currently facing high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria contamination. This pollution has put the watershed on the impaired waters list for the state of Iowa. The impaired waters list is a comprehensive list of every waterway in a state that has a contamination problem according to EPA regulations (insert source for impaired waters explanation & EPA regulations). Much of the pollution that can be found in the Duck Creek watershed is coming from nonpoint source (NPS) pollution. Nonpoint source pollution significantly contributes to the deterioration of water quality due to the difficulty in identifying, assessing and controlling the sources of this type of pollution (citation Wang). This pollution is caused by runoff moving over the land. It picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands and even our underground sources of drinking water (citation SCSWCD). Examples of nonpoint sources in the watershed could include failing septic systems, livestock access to streams, pastures full of manure, fertilizers applied to crops, miscellaneous urban sources such as gasoline or oil, pet waste, and wildlife (citation SCSWCD). Another source of NPS pollution is that conventional urban storm

In Los Angeles, at least 20% of fishes died from stormwater runoff. Who’s next? Repeatedly, stormwater runoff has indicated its negative consequences. From the bacteria in feces, to the chemical waste, stormwater has been made a hazard to all life on earth. Platypi, fish, frogs, and other marine life are in an immediate danger by the pollution. The pollution consisted of fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci, which are bacterias in organism waste. In addition, there 's lawn pesticides, and motor oils that are deadly. Water inundates humankind, making this an unavoidable conflict. However, creative solutions of managing the runoff has been proved successful. The solution appears as a green infrastructure, defined as a network system that helps manage water, or in this case, stormwater runoff. On the other hand, there has been recommendations of using public awareness as a solution, but this is only a key factor to a larger concept. In her article, “Water Works” Cynthia Barnett conveys how using these creative solutions such as the green infrastructure, is considerably more beneficial than the traditional ways of reducing water all together. She suggests that living differently with water, compared to reducing water, will benefit the nation greatly in their water dilemma. In addition, she believes that the pollution of stormwater harms Pacific killer whales, coho, and salmon. In agreement, I also believe that the pollution threatens the marine life. Hence, the management of

Also, fixing the water is not something that can be fixed over night. I believe stopping runoff is a key in stopping pollution. First, I think we should have more severe consequences for people who dump in the river. Second I think we should develop something around the bodies of water to stop the runoff. While thinking about stopping runoff, I thought about the everglades. In the everglades there is a plant that absorbs all the toxins in the water. We could plant these plants around the water that will absorb the

Storm water runoff is caused by rain draining through areas of pollution and then taking it into large bodies of water, this is one of the major water pollution areas. Storm water pollution effects every living organism on earth. With so many contaminates going into the water that we bathe in and drink, it is becoming a major problem. With 70% of the Earth being covered in water, this is every ones concern. Thomas M. Parris said in the article Managing Storm-water, "Storm-water run off is a major source of water pollution. When rain falls or snow melts, it picks up debris, chemicals, dirt, and other pollutants and often flows directly into lakes, streams, wet lands, and coastal waters.". With the proper analysis of risk and management, storm-water run off can

Storm water is water that originates from precipitation like rain, ice and snow, which runs into storm drains.