Campaigns & Cases > Safeguard Drinking Water > Stormwater Management

Stormwater Management

Stormwater runoff is the greatest threat to water quality today. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 40% of U.S. waterbodies do not meet water quality standards, and the leading source of water quality impairment is polluted stormwater runoff.

Stormwater runoff is rainwater and snowmelt that does not infiltrate into the ground (because it lands on built or paved surfaces), but rather moves over the ground toward a lower elevation and into streams or other receiving waters.

Under natural conditions, most rainwater seeps into the ground and is naturally filtered as it recharges ground water supplies. Impervious surfaces, such as roads, parking lots and rooftops, prevent natural infiltration and thereby increase stormwater flow over land.

Sprawling construction of buildings, roads, parking lots and other impervious surfaces generate increased stormwater runoff. As runoff volumes and velocities increase from new construction, water quality problems such as habitat alteration, damage to aquatic plant and animal populations, sedimentation and increased water temperatures become more pronounced.

Riverkeeper Report: Pave It…Or Save It, Vol. 1 (PDF, 1.5 MB)

  • Losing wetlands, polluting stormwaterSprawl Development

  • Sewage Overflows

  • Federal and State PermitsStormwater Regulations

Tell Gov. Hochul to block invasive species at the Erie and Champlain canals
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