Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The NLCD [19] provides land-cover statistics that can be used as a qualitative measure of the prevalence of different land covers that may act as natural impervious areas. Open water may act as a natural impervious area if direct precipitation is routed through the channel network and arrives as stormflow at the site of interest.
Although this is a point source, due to the distributional nature, long-range transport, and multiple sources of the pollution, it can be considered as nonpoint source in the depositional area. Atmospheric inputs that affect runoff quality may come from dry deposition between storm events and wet deposition during storm events.
As stormwater is channeled into storm drains and surface waters, the natural sediment load discharged to receiving waters decreases, but the water flow and velocity increases. In fact, the impervious cover in a typical city creates five times the runoff of a typical woodland of the same size. [9] [clarification needed]
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to channel runoff (or stream flow).It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil.
Stormwater can soak into the soil and become groundwater, be stored on depressed land surface in ponds and puddles, evaporate back into the atmosphere, or contribute to surface runoff. Most runoff is conveyed directly as surface water to nearby streams, rivers or other large water bodies (wetlands, lakes and oceans) without treatment.
Water Sensitive Urban Design with Green Infrastructure in the bottom right corner.. Water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) is a land planning and engineering design approach which integrates the urban water cycle, including stormwater, groundwater, and wastewater management and water supply, into urban design to minimise environmental degradation and improve aesthetic and recreational appeal. [1]
Retention ponds such as this one in Dunfermline, Scotland, are considered components of a sustainable drainage system. Sustainable drainage systems (also known as SuDS, [1] SUDS, [2] [3] or sustainable urban drainage systems [4]) are a collection of water management practices that aim to align modern drainage systems with natural water processes and are part of a larger green infrastructure ...
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution in surface waters. [100] The 1972 CWA amendments established a broad regulatory framework for improving water quality. The law defines procedures for pollution control and developing criteria and standards for pollutants in surface water. [101]