Stormwater

Are you an RSC Member School? Learn more about Stormwater Runoff and have your students participate in hands-on activities here.

What is Stormwater Runoff?

Stormwater: Water created by precipitation events, such as rainfall or snowmelt

Runoff: Water that does not infiltrate into the ground; Flows over land and impervious surfaces

  • Impervious surfaces: Surfaces that do not allow stormwater to percolate through the soils below them

 

Challenges resulting from Stormwater Runoff

Flooding

Erosion

Water Quality

  • Stormwater Runoff is a “Non-point Source of Pollution”
    • Point source pollution: comes from a single place; easy to identify
    • Non-point source pollution: pollution that comes from many places at once; difficult to identify
  • Pollution cause by stormwater runoff:
    • Excess nutrients such as nitrogen & phosphorous
    • Litter
    • Bacteria from animal & human waste
    • Sediment
    • Pesticides
    • Metals
    • Petroleum products from leaking vehicles

 

Stormwater Runoff Management

Efforts to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts of runoff include controlling flooding, reducing erosion, and improving water quality. This is accomplished by implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs)

BMPs:

  • Permeable surfaces
  • Extended detention ponds
  • Water pond/detention ponds
  • Infiltration basins
  • Basins/swales/strips
  • Rain gardens
  • Green roofs
  • Rain barrel

Example of a stormwater friendly neighborhood

 

Stormwater BMPs in Erie, PA

From left to right: Street trees, drainage holes in wall with green space below, City Hall rain garden, City Hall roof drip corridor, Erie Insurance green roof.

 

Mill Creek Trash Boom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be Part of the Solution!

  • Implement BMPs in your yard, neighborhood, or school
  • Do not litter! And pick up and properly dispose of litter that you come across
  • Only use fertilizers when necessary and never before a rain event
  • eep storm drains clear of debris
  • Use storm drain markers or messaging to remind the community that what goes down the drain goes into our lake

Additional Resources

EPAs National Stormwater Calculator

EPA – Soak Up The Rain: What’s the problem?

Ocean Conservancy – International Coastal Cleanup

Erie County Stormwater Information

Citizen Science