What is storm water management and how can we implement it?
Storm water is referring to rainfall and snowmelt. What doesn’t infiltrate into the ground becomes runoff. Runoff can pick up sediments and pollutants as it runs down hill. Pollutants include oil from cars, fertilizers from lawns, and salt from deicing roads. The goal of storm water management is to reduce the amount of storm water runoff or decrease the speed of it’s flow.
The concern is that the sediment and pollutants washed away will make it into streams, rivers, and eventually lake Winnipeg. Pollutants come from off the land, but they are also coming from combined sewer systems, which when overloaded, will send waste water into the river system.
There are 5 key ways that we can implement Stormwater Management.
1 – Shape the land’s surface: This means shaping the land to make it flow away from houses and into swales or detention basins, making the water pool intentionally in certain spots to allow infiltration and slow the flow of water to the street.
2 – Minimize impervious surfaces: Impervious surfaces, ones that water cannot get through, increase the amount of runoff. If we can reduce the amount of these surfaces, more water can infiltrate into the ground. An example of this could be a driveway with pavers that allow grass to grow through, reducing the amount of ground covered in cement.
3 – Capture stormwater for reuse: This one’s simple, lots of people are already capturing stormwater! The main way of doing this is through rain barrels collecting water off the roof. This can then be used when it is dry to water the garden or lawn.
4 – Protect catch basins from sediment and pollutants: This can include mechanical filters in catch basins, or biological filters before catch basins. Biological filters include planted areas that runoff flows through first, pollutants are absorbed, and then cleaner water enters the drain.
5 – Plant deep-rooted native species: Native species are adapted to some tough conditions such as drought, nutrient-poor soil, severe winters, disease and insects. This makes them a perfect fit for plantings in swales, bio-retention systems and reclaimed areas.