What is stormwater?

Stormwater is made of precipitation like rain, hail, and snow.  Stormwater is also made of drainage and surface runoff.  Surface runoff and drainage includes storm drain systems; gutters, storm drains, culverts, channels, underground pipes, small streams, and creeks.

What is erosion?

The Earth's surface is naturally worn away by forces of wind, water, gravity, and ice.  Construction activities like clearing, grubbing, and excavating can greatly increase erosion in an unnatural way creating structural loss of integrity and sedimentation.

Why do we care?

In most areas, stormwater discharges directly to streams with no treatment.  As stormwater drains it picks up pollutants such as oil, grease, fuel, sediment, concrete wash water, trash, and other debris.  These pollutants are a major source of water quality degradation.  Soils exposed and stored during construction also contribute sediments to stormwater runoff.  This, too, is pollution.  Not only do these pollutants pose risks to our water recreation and use, but it greatly affects animal and plant life in our waterways.  Increased sediment in streams causes habitat and flow changes, creating issues for fish spawning and rearing, displacing aquatic organisms and nutrients, causing algal growth, transporting other pollutants, and reducing water clarity.  

It's the law! In 1972 Congress enacted the Clean Water Act to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters.  The CWA authorizes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System to regulate water quality with permits and oversight.  In 1973 the state of Colorado passed its own Water Quality Act to protect state waters.  The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was given authority by the EPA in 1974 to run the NPDES program and manage water quality for the state of Colorado.

How is stormwater and Erosion managed?

There are many ways we manage stormwater and erosion to improve and maintain water quality.  Some administrative tools are providing information and training to show the impact of pollutants carried by stormwater, creating regulations to ensure preventive measures are taken, and enforcing these rules by inspection, oversight, and litigation.  These and other structural methods designed to prevent increased stormwater sediment loads and construction generated pollutants are known as Best Management Practices or BMPs.  When these BMPs are properly designed, implemented, and maintained stormwater and erosion can be successfully managed.

Era Environmental's goal is to work with our clients to incorporate practical and cost-effective plans to achieve not just compliance, but success.