What is Storm Water Management?
Due to an unfunded Federal mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the City of Peru has been forced to develop a plan to properly dispose of storm water within the corporate boundaries of the City of Peru. Failure to meet all requirements by the November 1, 2004, completion date could result in fines to the City of $25,000 per day. A Storm Water Management Board was formed and tasked with researching the mandate and developing a plan to meet all requirements. Bonar and Associates, a professional engineering firm that has assisted many other Indiana communities with storm water plan development, has been retained as a consultant and advisor. After considerable study, the Storm Water Management Board has ascertained that the most practical method of accomplishing this task is to form a new Storm Water Utility. To perform the duties required by the EPA mandate, this Utility will require a yearly budget of approximately $350,000. This budget will allow the Utility to monito
Storm water is the runoff that comes from parking lots and rooftops and flows into our storm drains and streams carrying silt, debris, fertilizer and other pollutants with it. Since storm water runoff is untreated, pollutants end up in our lakes and other water resources. In addition to adding pollutants to storm water, urban development increases the amount and velocity of runoff that occurs, so that downstream properties are flooded, channels and streams become eroded over time, and natural beauty and habitat are lost. In the past, urban drainage systems were developed to address only one concern—to carry runoff from a major storm safely through the area being developed. Little attention was given to downstream impacts on flooding, water quality or maintenance. Storm water management is a new approach that integrates all aspects of storm water runoff to protect the environment and provide the highest quality of life for current and future generations. Storm water is managed by integr
The water that is in our rivers, lakes and streams is not pure water that you can drink. In fact in studies done throughout the United States it has been proven that some of our rivers, lakes and streams are not even safe to swim, fish, wade, ski or canoe in. There are many sources of the reasons why they are not pure or clean. We would all like to place the blame all on commercial and industrial businesses, however, we as individuals are responsible as well. The rain that falls on our lawns, rooftops, driveways, streets and parking lots are all picking up fertilizers, herbicides, carwash soap, grease, oils and other bacteria from trash and litter as well as the mud from construction sites and carrying them into our water sources. Storm Water Management is a process where communities monitor different sources of possible pollutants to try to mainstream and keep them from entering our water sources. Have you heard of the Water Cycle (Hydrologic Cycle)? The Water Cycle is the life cycle
