Why is stormwater pollution a problem?
Stormwater pollution affects our environment, and here’s why: • It picks up oil, grease, metals pesticides and other pollutants and deposits them in streams and long the waterfront. • It contributes to poor water clarity, high concentrations of bacteria and elevated concentrations of metal and organic contaminants and the piling up of trash. • A lot of diluted sewage is discharged into our rivers and the waterfront because of combined sewer overflows. Combined sewers have single pipes which carry both sewage and stormwater. • Runoff generated when it rains also leads to surface flooding, erosion of streambanks, destruction of fish habitat and basement flooding, to name a few.
