As rain water runs off our streets, parking lots, lawns, and other surfaces, it picks up pet waste, pesticides, fertilizer, oil, and other contaminants. This polluted runoff typically is not filtered in the way that wastewater is treated at a sewage plant. If the draining water doesn’t evaporate or soak into the ground, it flushes straight into local creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay, adversely affecting water quality and aquatic life.
Currents of runoff scour stream banks, destabilize the natural contours of the streams, and even alter their depths. They muddy drinking water sources, and also carry bacteria, making the treatment and use of such water more expensive.
Eroded dirt from the runoff blocks sunlight from reaching underwater grasses, and smother the aquatic homes of oysters and other life. As grasses and marine life die, fish and other creatures that rely on them are imperiled. The runoff also carries nutrients that spur algae blooms that cause low oxygen and kill fish.
Not only wildlife is endangered by stormwater pollution. The state of Maryland cautions people not to swim in waterways for 48 hours after a heavy rain. Polluted runoff carrying bacteria has resulted in serious illnesses. Also, in urban and suburban areas where ground surfaces have been hardened and the polluted water has no place to go, local streets and basements often flood, causing repeated and costly damage to homes and businesses.
Urban and suburban polluted runoff is a significant source of nitrogen pollution that continues to grow in the Chesapeake watershed. Pollution discharged from sewage plants, agriculture, and other major sources is declining. This problem with runoff is one of the main reasons the Bay remains on the "dirty waters" list of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Climate change promises, and even now is delivering more frequent and intense storms. These heavy rains will wash more pollutants from the land. Computer modeling by the Chesapeake Bay Program suggests 9 million more pounds of nitrogen will wash into the Bay due to climate change and 500,000 pounds of phosphorus. The larger volumes of water traveling at higher velocities will wreak ever more havoc. Already, the northeastern United States has seen dramatically more rainfall during heavy storms in recent decades. The summer of 2018 saw record-setting rainfall in many parts of the Bay region. With those downpours came severe flooding and property damage.
States and localities are failing already to deal adequately with polluted runoff. None of the six states in the Bay watershed, or the District of Columbia, is meeting its Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint goals to reduce polluted runoff. Climate change will add to their burdens.
So too will sprawl development. Sprawl is insufficiently managed growth that gobbles up farms, forests, and other natural areas, that typically would soak up the runoff. More impervious surfaces mean fewer of the "green filters" that nature provides, and more polluted runoff.
One promising solution is greening the landscape strategically, a tool called "green infrastructure." The idea is simple: slow down and soak up runoff. Build "rain gardens" and other natural areas in key drainage areas. Where possible, replace old pavement with pervious pavement. Plant gardens on rooftops. These and other green solutions not only are cost effective; they provide secondary social benefits: shade, wildlife habitat, a more pleasant neighborhood, to name a few. We call this the green filter approach to managing runoff.
CBF is introducing local Bay jurisdictions to a new way of financing these green filters. It's called "impact investment." It helps slow down and soak up runoff, and also creates local sustainable jobs and more healthy, vibrant communities.
Additional information about stormwater management can be found at the following websites:
The Center for Watershed Protection
Low Impact Development Center
Low Impact Development Urban Design Tools
From Our Blog
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Flood of 10 Million Trees Could Help Offset Impact of Future PA Deluges
September 20, 2018
Veteran newspaper photographer John Pavoncello has been eye-to-eye with all kinds of human drama.
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The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is Working
August 23, 2018
This is a critical time for bay restoration. At the halfway point between 2010 and 2025 the question is: Are we on track?
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Stop Pipelines' Devastation of Virginia Waterways
August 21, 2018
Recent months have deluged Virginians with storms and heavy rainfall, causing flooded roads, washed-out embankments, and mudslides. In the case of Mountain Valley Pipeline construction, these summer storms triggered extensive damage to Virginia's rivers and streams.
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State Program is Cleaning Waterways Across Virginia
January 24, 2018
Clean water is one topic that Virginians of all political stripes agree on.
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Farmer Spotlight: Open Book Farm
January 10, 2018
Nestled contently in Maryland's Middletown Valley lies Open Book Farm. Originally owned by a family that possessed the land since the Revolutionary War, the farm is now trusted to the caring hands of Mary Kathryn (MK) and Andrew Barnet.
Video
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Baltimore School Challenge
11 Nov 2015 0:02:43Kim Coble, Vice President for Environmental Protection and Restoration, delivers a challenge to design, innovate, and engineer solutions to stop nitrogen pollution from entering Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
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Roadside Ditch Retrofits: Affordable Solutions for Healthy Waterways
01 Jun 2015 Steve Droter 00:06:15When government officials in Talbot County, MD joined with experts from The Nature Conservancy and Chesapeake Bay Foundation to explore new and improved stormwater management strategies, they looked to the agricultural sector and discovered a proven, affordable way to treat polluted runoff from both sources. Working with local farmer, John Swain, and Dan Kramer of Sweetbay Watershed Conservation, they installed a pilot project in the spring of 2015. Scalable, repeatable, quick and easy to install, roadside ditch retrofits are now helping Talbot County meets its goals, and efforts are underway to expand throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
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How To Install a Rain Barrel
17 Sep 2013 00:02:31Students show how to install a rain barrel as a way to prevent polluted runoff, save water, and educate others.