Stormwater runoff has been documented to increase flooding which reduces ground water infiltration and shallow interflow. Within the water there are pollutants such as nutrients, and pathogens (Hunter, 2010). In urban and suburban areas, stormwater runoff is a primary stressor of surface water.
Conventional urban stormwater management systems usually transfer stormwater runoff directly into streams and rivers, which in turn will worsen pollutant inputs and hydrologic disturbance, resulting in the degradation of ecosystem structure and function. Stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces is a key contributor to the collapse of healthy fresh water ecosystems in urban environments (Roy et al., 2008). This is a result of stormwater …show more content…
For example, at Villanova University, the stormwater management on that campus serves to clean the water, but also helps beautify the campus, changing the opinion of locals who do not pay much attention to the need of stormwater management practices. Stormwater awareness is important because communities that were educated on stormwater and watershed management stormwater and watershed management favourably, (Hunt, 2010) which means that if local communities will be educated about such practices, then more communities will also be in favour of stormwater management.
A more sustainable solution to stormwater management would be decentralized stormwater management tools such as low impact development (LID) or water sensitive urban design (WSUD). These two tools are designed to pond, harvest and infiltrate water at the source, encouraging evaporating, evapotranspiration, ground water recharge and the re-use of stormwater (Roy et al., 2008). To maintain both, Roy e al., offers three premises that are believed to be fundamental to achieving sustainable stormwater …show more content…
A major impact on stream ecosystems is the increased runoff of poor quality stormwater. Retention capacity (RC) can be used because it mimics natural runoff behavior, emphasising on small frequent storms, to reduce the frequency of flow disturbance experienced by streams. RC provides a practical design objective for stormwater treatment systems better targeted toward the protection of stream ecosystems than the pollutant load or runoff volume reduction targets are commonly used for (Walsh, Fletcher. & Ladson, 2009). Hydrologic modeling suggests that green roofs alone cannot provide complete stormwater management at the watershed scale. Other studied have found benefits provided by source control stormwater management tools similar to green roofs at the scale of a drainage basin or jurisdictional watershed that are more cost effective (Carter & Jackson, 2006).
Conclusion
Stormwater management is important to maintain healthy water flow. As pollutants and flooding are a common issue with stormwater, managing such would be helpful for people and aquatic ecosystems. Stormwater management is underfunded, and without the proper attention can be a waste of millions. Most people push