MS4 : Where does the water go?
Have you ever watched water flow down the gutter on your street and wondered where it goes? If your answer is no, you’re in the majority. The unfortunate fact is most people haven’t thought about it. Down the drain; off the brain! But when the question is posed, your answer may be just a guess or, more often, an incorrect assumption. Many assume that the fate of that water in the street is much the same as the water that goes down the drains of the sinks and tubs in your home. The simple truth may shock you. Storm water sewer systems are separate from municipal wastewater sewer systems. Wastewater is obviously piped to the local treatment facility for removal of pollutants, but storm water is piped directly to a point of discharge, usually local surface waters in and around your community.
Whether intentional or misguided, anything you have placed in a position to enter that storm drain has essentially been placed in the local waters in which we drink, fish, and recreate. Urban storm water runoff has become a major source of pollution to waters in our Country – contaminants include sediment, heavy metals, bacteria from sources such as pet waste, chemicals from lawn fertilizers and herbicides, trash, detergents, and a whole host of others.
The health of the waters in the United States has been on a virtual roller coaster over the last century. Regulations and oversight have addressed the evils of the past that have seen rivers literally on fire because of industrial pollution, but as those pollutant discharges have been eliminated or treated there’s a new, less obvious culprit that has come to light – stormwater. Development results in paved roads, parking lots, buildings, and other barriers that no longer allow rainwater and snowmelt to simply soak into the ground. So as stormwater flows across the land, it picks up whatever pollutants are left in its path and enters our waterways. Stormwater pollution is a quantity and a quality issue.
But in Montana we’re still among the lucky ones. We have an opportunity to address this issue before we see the huge impacts that more populated areas are already experiencing. We have a chance to change our behaviors and our awareness when there are still resources to protect rather than restore.
