Keep your source water clean
to keep your tap water costs down.

Stormwater poolClimate change means rainstorms are more severe, and stormwater runoff is quickly becoming the greatest threat to water quality across the country. Facing rising health costs from water that has swept up a lot of heavy metals, fertilizer, motor oil and animal waste, it makes sense to keep the impurities out of the water flow in the first place.

Waynesboro, VA has created ponds to filter runoff from a 330-acre residential neighborhood. By slowly cascading from pond to pond, the water spends enough time in the wetland to let natural processes – absorption in the underlying soil and mud, uptake by plants and microbial processes – clean it up. The new wetland is expected to remove around 300 pounds of phosphorus and 1,700 bounds of nitrogen annually.

Oh, and it looks nice and attracts wildlife.

Many other communities are creating natural filters like this one to keep pollutants out of a local waterway – whether or not it’s a drinking water source. Does your municipality need ideas for keeping your ponds and waterways clean? Next month, StormCon, the largest convention of the subject, will provide dozens of case studies of runoff control.