What is Polluted Runoff?

Water pollution is an ugly word because things like hazardous wastes, smelly lakes, brown water, trash and liter, and sick animals and fish all come to mind. Unfortunately, we probably have all seen or smelled a dirty stream, river, or lake some of them maybe in our own neighborhoods. Well, have you ever wondered how the water became brown and how the trash along the river banks got there? Read on to find out what water pollution is and where it comes from. You might be surprised to find out that your own home can be a source of water pollution

 

During a rain storm, depending on where a water droplet lands it will either soak into a lawn or garden or will quickly run off hard surfaces like rooftops, driveways, sidewalks and roads.  If it rains enough, the lawn and garden soil will become so full of water that it will not be able to handle anymore. The water that runs off of lawns, gardens and hard surfaces and collects in the street gutter and front yard ditches is called stormwater runoff. The rain water hitting our roof is eventually collected in our streets and ditches, travels underground through storm sewer pipes and is finally dumped directly into our streams, rivers and lakes.

 

The problem with stormwater runoff is that it picks up pollutants from our lawns, gardens, driveways, and streets and carries this untreated dirty water directly to our streams, rivers and lakes.  Pollutants include such things as oil leaking from our family’s car, fertilizers and dog waste sitting on our lawns and litter and trash sitting in the street.

 

Even though each one of our homes may not contain many pollutants at one time, it is the addition of all the pollutants coming from each house and each business that causes the concentration of pollutants entering our streams, rivers and lakes to be unhealthy. In addition only a small amount of toxic or hazardous waste coming from our homes often can cause harmful effects for the plants, animals and fish living in the water.