Stormwater Runoff Essay

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Reduce Pollutants From Stormwater Runoff “Most cities do not take sufficient measures to prevent run-off. According to the EPA, 40 percent of US rivers and lakes surveyed do not meet water quality standards. Urban run-off is one of the key culprits” (UN Water, 2016, para. 14). Stormwater runoff runs down such things as roads and yards that causes dangerous pollutants to enter and create damages to our water and wildlife. Runoff is the number one cause of water pollution and in order to stop it we must first understand it. Stormwater runoff carries pollution that can affect anyone or anything, and may be solved through an educated, and voluntary public action to stop pollutants from entering our waters.
Background
Stormwater runoff is the …show more content…

If the public doesn’t take matters into their own hands, water pollution can and will have long term effects. According to UN Water (2016), “Within about 10 years most people on the planet will face life with water shortages. Half the world’s major rivers are being seriously polluted and/or depleted” (para. 1). One of the main reasons for this depletion of water is from the effects of pollution in stormwater runoff. By not taking care of our environment, actions like clearing forests can cause erosion to wash into our rivers or lakes if we 're not careful. Also land left exposed or undergoing construction is vulnerable for increased rates of erosion to flow into our waters creating pollutants such as …show more content…

According to the Stormwater Equipment Manufacturers Association (2015), “when metals and organics enter stormwater and are carried to the watershed, they are toxic to fish and other forms of aquatic life. Urban stormwater runoff is not alone in causing these impacts; industrial and agricultural runoff are contributors to water quality impairment” (para. 3). It is very hard for fish to survive in polluted waters. About 20 percent of the 10,000 fish we have known or do know are extinct due to the high levels of pollutants in rivers and lakes today. Unless we act upon this issue of stormwater runoff, many more of the species of freshwater fish will also become

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