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Combined sewer overflow events plague many cities that rely on old infrastructure to manage both sanitation and surface runoff. It’s time we made a change.

If you’re like most, avoiding the contents of a toilet is pretty high on your list.

It might disgust you, therefore, to discover that the sewers in many large cities regularly back up and flow into the streets.

While this fact is certainly ripe for some bathroom humor, it’s actually a very serious problem. When heavy rains lead to an abundance of stormwater, some sewers can’t keep up. Current city planning incorporates stormwater management practices to prevent this from happening, but our older urban spaces have yet to hop on board.

it’s time we change that.

While we don’t often stop to think about the magnitude of each rainfall and snowfall, the environment still has to deal with the massive quantities of runoff that result. So what is stormwater management, and why does it matter?

As the US Geological Survey points out, runoff from stormwater is an extremely important part of the world’s ecosystem. It carries water downhill to fill lakes and rivers, wears away at stone and dirt, forms climates and habitats in its wake.

That’s during natural processes, though. In cities, these mechanisms aren’t nearly so healthy. Rainwater pounds away at rooftops, sidewalks, streets and other impermeable surfaces, but can’t get through. It heads to sewers instead, picking up pollution and disease along the way.

Obviously, we need a way to manage all that runoff. If you’re asking “Well, what is stormwater management?” then you’re in the right place. Let’s talk about that.

Think stormwater retention and detention are interchangeable terms? Think again … here’s a brief crash course in the differences between the two. 

If ever two terms were created to confuse, it’s stormwater detention and stormwater retention. I mean, come on … someone was just playing a cruel joke on us.

It’s critical we push past any English language befuddlements, however, because these two terms are extremely important to creating a better, happier ecosystem – both here at home and across the world.

Stormwater, see, is an incredibly problematic fact of urban living. The extremely high percentage of paved-over surfaces in the city – think asphalt, cement and concrete – water doesn’t have anywhere to go once it descends from the sky.

Long story short: It pools in streets and sewers, it picks up pollutants and disease, it transmits them to wildlife and waterways. In short, stormwater sucks and we need to do something about it.

First, though, we need to know what we’re dealing with vis-à-vis solutions. So what exactly are stormwater detention and retention? Let’s clarify both terms, then take a quick look at how you can employ each.

While we often enjoy a soft drizzle or thrilling thunderstorm, the water pouring from the sky during these events usually does more harm than good in the city. 

Ever looked out the window to see your kids playing in puddles and said to yourself, Awwww cute! Look how much fun they’re having.

*insert smiley face*

The problem is that puddle is not nearly as cute as your little beans. In fact, the very fact that water is pooling in your yard proves you need a stormwater management plan.

Why? Because stormwater brings with it a wide variety of ills. It is environmentally damaging and dangerous to public health, and thus far our cities aren’t doing nearly enough to combat it. The good news is, you can.