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( Stormwater)
Stormwater is a term used to describe water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt or runoff water from overwatering that enters the stormwater system. Stormwater that does not soak into the ground becomes surface runoff, which either flows into surface waterways or is channeled into storm sewers. Stormwater is of concern for two main issues one related to the volume and timing of runoff water (flood control and water supplies) and the other related to potential contaminants that the water is carrying, i.e. water pollution. Since the era that humans began living in concentrated village or urban settings, stormwater runoff has presented itself as an issue. Such dwelling styles can be generally related to the Bronze Age when considerable amounts of impervious surface emerged as a factor in the design of early human settlements. Some of the early incorporation of stormwater engineering is evidenced in ancient Greece.[1] An early specific example of stormwater runoff system design is found in the archaeological recovery at Minoan Phaistos on Crete.[2] Because impervious surfaces (parking lots, roads, buildings, compacted soil) do not allow rain to infiltrate into the ground, more runoff is generated than in the undeveloped condition. This additional runoff can erode watercourses (streams and rivers) as well as cause flooding when the stormwater collection system is overwhelmed by the additional flow. Because the water is flushed out of the watershed during the storm event, little infiltrates the soil, replenishes groundwater, or supplies stream baseflow in dry weather.
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