Bugs in the Water

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Chapter 2
THE CAUSES OF URBAN STORMWATER POLLUTION
Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/storm/chap2.asp

Runoff pollution occurs every time rain or snowmelt flows across the ground and picks up contaminants. It occurs on farms or other agricultural sites, where the water carries away fertilizers, pesticides, and sediment from cropland or pastureland. It occurs during forestry operations (particularly along timber roads), where the water carries away sediment, and the nutrients and other materials associated with that sediment, from land which no longer has enough living vegetation to hold soil in place.

This report, however, focuses on runoff pollution from developed areas, which occurs when stormwater carries away a wide variety of contaminants as it runs across rooftops, roads, parking lots, baseball diamonds, construction sites, golf courses, lawns, and other surfaces in our cities and suburbs. The oily sheen on rainwater in roadside gutters is but one common example of urban runoff pollution.

This chapter discusses some of the causes of stormwater runoff and pollution, which are important to understand before adopting management strategies.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now considers pollution from all diffuse sources, including urban stormwater pollution, to be the most important source of contamination in our nation's waters. 1 While polluted runoff from agricultural sources may be an even more important source of water pollution than urban runoff, urban runoff is still a critical source of contamination, particularly for waters near cities -- and thus near most people. EPA ranks urban runoff and storm-sewer discharges as the second most prevalent source of water quality impairment in our nation's estuaries, and the fourth most prevalent source of impairment of our lakes. 2 Most of the U.S. population lives in urban and coastal areas where the water resources are highly vulnerable to and are often severely degraded by urban runoff.

Urban stormwater continues to impair the nation's waterways, 29 years after passage in 1972 of the law now known as the Clean Water Act. The main reason why urban stormwater remains such an important contributor to water pollution is the fact that in most areas, stormwater receives no treatment before entering waterbodies. The storm-sewer system merely collects the urban runoff and discharges it directly to the nearest river, lake, or bay.

Over the past 29 years, water pollution control efforts have focused primarily on certain process water discharges from facilities such as factories and sewage treatment plants, with less emphasis on diffuse sources. While these efforts have led to many water quality improvements, new efforts are now needed to address the remaining sources of water pollution, including urban runoff pollution.

Comprehensive stormwater regulation has been slow to develop (see box: "History of Stormwater Regulation in the United States"). Since 1992, cities with a population over 100,000, certain industries, and construction sites over 5 acres have had to develop and implement stormwater plans under Phase I of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater regulations. As of May 1999, states and the EPA have issued more than 260 permits affecting some 850 operators, including larger cities operating separate storm sewer systems, which requires them to develop stormwater management plans. A number of stormwater discharges from industrial activities are also subject to NPDES stormwater permit requirements.

On December 8, 1999, EPA promulgated a rule requiring smaller municipalities, those with populations of fewer than 100,000 people located in urbanized areas (where population density is greater than 1,000 persons per square mile) to develop stormwater plans. Municipalities not in urbanized areas that have more than 10,000 residents and a population density greater than 1,000 persons per square mile will also have to develop stormwater plans if the state so designates. Under this so-called "Phase II" rule, the EPA and states will develop "tool boxes" from which the smaller local governments can choose particular stormwater strategies, including the strategies presented in this report, to develop their stormwater plans.

Stormwater must be distinguished from other urban sources of pollution largely caused by wet weather since each separate source is regulated differently. In addition to stormwater runoff, which is the focus of this study, there are two other significant sources of urban wet weather pollution: sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and combined sewer overflows (CSOs). SSOs occur when sanitary sewers, often because of leaks and cracks, become surcharged in wet weather and overflow, often through manholes or into basements. CSOs occur when flows into combined sewer system (systems that receive stormwater, sanitary sewer discharges from residences and businesses, and wastewater discharges from industrial facilities and transport it all through a single pipe) exceed the treatment and storage capacity of the sewer system and waste treatment facility. At that point, this combined waste stream overflows into creeks, rivers, lakes or estuaries through designated outfalls usually without treatment. CSOs and SSOs are more of a problem with older systems while stormwater is an issue for all metropolitan areas, especially growing areas. Moreover, while prevention programs can be very important to efforts to reduce CSOs and SSOs, structural changes are usually necessary. By contrast, much stormwater pollution can be prevented with proper planning in growing or redevelopment areas.

Remarkably, studies have shown that stormwater alone can be almost as contaminated as these sewage/stormwater mixtures.3 Yet stormwater runoff remains to be regulated in most of the nation's populated areas. While many CSO and SSO control measures may overlap with stormwater pollution control measures, strategies that deal with stormwater specifically must be implemented if the quality of America's waterbodies is to improve. These strategies are the focus of this report.