What Is Stormwater?
Stormwater is runoff water from rain or melting snow that flows across the landscape. Runoff flows off of rooftops, paved areas, bare soil, and lawns. The runoff merges into increasingly larger amounts of water (from puddles, to ditches, to streams, to lakes and rivers) until it flows into the ocean.
View Stormwater DiagramIn its journey from puddle to ocean, stormwater picks up and transports many of the pollutants it encounters. These pollutants include dirt, pet wastes, pesticides, fertilizers, automobile fluids (such as oil, gasoline, and antifreeze), deicing products, yard wastes, and cigarette butts and litter. By carrying all of these different kinds of pollution into our waterways, stormwater itself becomes a water pollutant.
Imagine how much pollution can come from an entire city's vehicles, lawns, homes, businesses, parking lots and litterbugs!
Source: www.nccwep.org
