Stormwater Treatment Systems: Building Cleaner, Greener, and Resilient Cities
With growing cities come city city diseases—one perhaps worst of all, and that is storm water management. Urbanization overloads natural water systems, and what usually happens is a deluge of rain coursing through the sewerage system, ravaging the roads and infrastructure and polluting nearby water bodies. Storm water management has heretofore been designed to flush out the water as fast as possible without regard for much about the environmental effects. But growing awareness of the need to develop sustainable cities shifted the agenda to storm water treatment systems that allow cleaner water and healthier cities. What is Storm water, and Why Does It Matter? Storm water is rain or snow melt that flows across impermeable surfaces like streets, sidewalks, and buildings, which do not permit the water to infiltrate the soil. As it flows across the city scape, it collects pollutants like oil, heavy metals, chemicals, and trash. If left untreated, storm water runoff will flow directly ...