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Too much pavement, too little oversight: Why stormwater is a leading water pollution problem

Posted by: Maven on February 18, 2010 at 6:17 am

From AlterNet:

“Little Black Creek has a long history of abuse. The stream in western Michigan runs through an industrialized area, and its sediment has some of the highest levels of cadmium found anywhere in the Great Lakes. Its banks are so eroded and its water so contaminated that it is unable to sustain its native, cold-water trout. And, every time it rains, one of Little Black Creek’s biggest threats rushes in.

Nearly one-third of the land around the creek is buried under urban concrete, asphalt and buildings. Rain water is shunted into storm drains, pushing the contaminated sediment downstream and delivering a fresh load of toxic runoff and snowmelt from city streets to Little Black Creek.

Across the country, stormwater runoff hammers thousands of rivers, streams and lakes. Communities are left to struggle with the consequences of too much pavement and too little oversight.

Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to tighten federal stormwater rules that have been criticized by environmental groups and deemed ineffective by a national panel of researchers. … “

Continue reading this article from AlterNet by clicking here.

February 18, 2010 · Filed Under Flood Control/Stormwater

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