where does it go? :: STORMWATER









what is it?
why is it important?
what can i do?
view it: where does it go? the movie read about it: where does it go? the print edition

Depends on where you live, actually.

Older sewers carry stormwater with sewage to a treatment plant, but many suburban sewers drain stormwater right into the environment.

When it rains, water soaks into the ground and eventually trickles to Lake Erie, or it falls on hard surfaces and flows into street sewers via catch basins (the street openings that allow water to enter the sewers).

In older cities like Cleveland, rain on streets, sidewalks and roofs flows to a combined sewer (which carries rain and sewage in the same pipe) and then to a wastewater treatment plant.

Most suburbs and newer communities have separate sewers for stormwater: They carry that flow to the nearest stream or directly to Lake Erie. Here are the basics:

Stormwater can cause many problems. Local waterways are polluted as rain washes over hard surfaces (roads, driveways, roofs, for example), carrying pollution and debris with it. And because the runoff flows so quickly, local streams suffer from erosion as their volumes increase dramatically during and after storms.

The Sewer District is planning a Stormwater Management Program to address some of these issues, including more than $200 million worth of backlogged stormwater-related infrastructure projects that will reduce flooding, reduce erosion, and protect the environment.