Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
every downspout disconnected from the sewer system, which
allows an estimated 1 billion gallons of water annually to
infi ltrate back into the ground.
Some of the nation's water districts and treatment facilities have
adopted a system of storm water fees, too. The greater the impervi-
ous surface area, the higher the fees.
As with almost everything else to do with water, there are win-
ners and losers, happy customers and not-so-happy ones.
In Chicago, meteorologist Amy Freeze has proposed another
approach to dealing with storm water runoff. The storm water spe-
cialist, also chief meteorologist for Fox Chicago, is a proponent of
a voluntary storm water overfl ow alert system. Freeze explains her
Stormwater Action Alert Program (SAAP) as a voluntary initiative to
help consumers cut down on water use when conditions are right
for a heavy rain event that could overwhelm sewers, cause fl ooding,
and ultimately degrade water quality. “The community-based initia-
tive would be similar to the already successful national air quality ini-
tiative, Partners for Clean Air,” says Freeze. “With water, if before the
storm occurs, we can limit the volume of water in our sewers, it will
go a long way toward improving the quality of our source water.”
Freezes envisions Chicago as a starting point for the alert sys-
tem, and then hopefully grow it in scope. In October 2010, Freeze
and a number of Chicago-area experts sat down to discuss various
solutions to combined sewer overfl ows and the possible role an
alert system could play when conditions for overfl ow exist.
GROUNDWATER POLLUTION
Groundwater runoff isn't a concern only because of its volume
and resulting reduction in underground water supplies. That same
suburban runoff combines with urban runoff, mixes with various
pollutants it picks up along the way, and creates one of the biggest
sources of water and groundwater pollution in the country. Known
as nonpoint source pollution (NSP), it affects drinking water
supplies not only in the United States, but also around the world,
because groundwater systems provide 25 to 40 percent of the
