Keeping Ohio Clean: Why Every Home Needs Proper Stormwater Management

Keeping Ohio Clean: Why Every Home Needs Proper Stormwater Management

Keeping Ohio Clean: Why Every Home Needs Proper Stormwater Management

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Climate change has been worsening global water problems. It is reported that extreme rainfall has intensified by 7% for a 1°C increase in global heating, subsequently increasing flooding risks. As a homeowner in Ohio, a city that often faces thunderstorms in summers and springs, you must protect your house against climactic erosion through effective stormwater management.

According to the EPA, stormwater refers to melted snow or rainwater that falls on footpaths, streets, and lawns. It can lead to flooding, overflow of sewer systems, and stream bank erosion. Proper stormwater pollution prevention and waste-water pumping services can help you with your stormwater system and reduce any associated risks. Here’s why you and Ohio need such services:

Why Stormwater Run-off Is a Problem

Stormwater carries pollutants with its floods. Flooding can damage private and public properties with a poor drainage system, causing cracks in paths and wet patches in yards. Toxic waste, pesticides, animal waste, and trash flow into different water bodies through stormwater and contaminate groundwater. Contact with this groundwater can threaten your health by causing skin rashes, nausea, and waterborne diseases like Hepatitis A. Poorly managed stormwater also leads to water shortages in many communities as groundwater is contaminated and wetlands are not replenished.

Stormwater also causes soil erosion and clogs waterbeds and streams with eroded soil sediments. This can impair fisheries and cause foul smells, causing beaches to close. It also ends up destroying plants, aquatic habitats, and farmlands. All this is a nuisance to locals and discourages tourists. Effective stormwater management can reduce these problems.

Benefits of Stormwater Management

Stormwater drains are a network of channels and underground pipes that direct stormwater runoff from hard surfaces such as roads and car parks into a drain. Pits and drains above and below land surfaces will store the stormwater at a controlled rate before discharging it. Let’s look into the benefits of stormwater management:

1.    Maintains the Hydrologic Cycle

You need soil moisture to sustain vegetation and maintain the natural hydrologic cycle – the movement of water from the surface to the atmosphere. Stormwater management utilizes site grading, soils, and other natural constituents and processes to absorb the onsite stormwater. This also helps with groundwater recharge – water movement to water tables. A proper management system replenishes underground water and creates an adequate water supply. Otherwise, streams’ base flow is reduced, harming aquatic life.

2.    Prevent Flooding and Soil Erosion

Urban areas with less vegetation and intense thunderstorms may experience more flooding without proper management, leading to loss of life. Stormwater also chips away soil sediments, causing soil erosion which can damage the plant root systems, lead to sinkage in your landscaped areas, and affect the shapes of streams which can decline animal and plant diversity. Stormwater management involves regular checkups on debris and sediments and removing excess stormwater to prevent flooding and minimize soil erosion.

3.    Protect Water Quality by Reducing Contaminants

Contaminants from your gardens, plastics, and even daily use build on hard surfaces such as pavement, and stormwater carries them to water sources. An efficient stormwater management system will remove these pollutants. Thanks to technological advancement, you can use filters to get clean water for drinking and putting out fires.

Endnote

You must comply with state and local stormwater standards to avoid fines or trouble with the local council due to inadequate maintenance services. Work with established companies who can help you implement and maintain a proper stormwater drain.

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