How Does Storm Rain Runoff Affect Water Quality?
Anything that goes into the gutter from yards, driveways, and streets ends up in storm drains. This can include oil and antifreeze from cars, fertilizers, pesticides, and other hazardous household wastes that are not supposed to go into the drains, but inevitably do. In addition, soil and organic nutrients, pet feces, sediments and other dissolved solids are washed in during storm events. These all affect the water chemistry of the stream. Sometimes nutrients can be beneficial to the productivity of the stream but when they are added in excess, or toxic chemicals are present, they can have effects on the aquatic ecosystem and the stream can become polluted. This type of pollution is called non-point source pollution. Non-point source pollution is the result of runoff of excess nutrients and pollutants that does not come from one particular place, but from many places. According to the State of Utah Division of Water Quality, non-point source pollution has had the biggest impacts on Uta
