Polluted Runoff Essay Solution

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Polluted runoff is water from rain or melting snow that runs across the paved land instead of seeping into the ground and being filtered naturally. It happens with the water that flows off of our streets, parking lots, and building rooftops and it picks up all kinds of hazardous waste like pet waste, debris, manure, pesticides, oil, and automotive fluids. If the runoff is poorly treated or untreated, it negatively affects the water quality and the aquatic life in the local streams, then the rivers in which they feed, and then ultimately the Chesapeake Bay (Polluted Runoff). When it rains and the rain lands in a metropolitan or rural area, where there is asphalt or no way of drainage at all, the water flows into the storm drains with all the …show more content…
The legislation was established to manage stormwater runoff to decrease stream channel erosion, pollution, and flooding to avoid adverse impact on land and water resources. Unregulated activities such as dredging, dumping, and filling were putting the remaining wetlands in danger. In 1970, the Tidal Wetlands Act was established to limit the construction and development action in tidal wetlands. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System authorized that federal property owners consider renovation designs that include alterations to existing small ponds and other embankment structures. Reconstructed ponds that use an embankment for impounding water must be designed to meet particular guidelines depending on the classification of the current structure. Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans, Spill Prevention, and Control and Countermeasures Plans performs quarterly and annual stormwater inspections for various State and privately owned wastewater treatment plants. When former Maryland Governor Martin O 'Malley was in office, the Stormwater Management-Watershed and Restoration Program or the “rain tax” was signed into law in May 2012. The Environmental Protection Agency, also known as EPA, steered towards decreasing the number of pollution levels in the Chesapeake Bay. While the EPA’s $7.7 billion project called on the seven neighboring states to establish legislation, Maryland is the only state to have actually listened to the federal agency. The rain tax is an annual expense on watertight surfaces like roofs, driveways, sidewalks, garages, and any other surface that could produce drainage problems and water pollution situated on property maintained by an individual or a corporation. However, the tax was not in effect in every city and county in the state. In fact, only nine counties out of twenty-four and the city of Baltimore

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