Stormwater obviously causes problems for the environment and infrastructure, washing away salmon eggs in torrents of runoff and flooding basements. But does it threaten human health as well? You bet it does, and in ways that might surprise you.
Polluted runoff flushes raw sewage across beaches, triggers blooms of toxic algae in our drinking water systems, and contaminates shellfish and seafood we eat with bacteria and dangerous chemicals.
Over the past three years, sewage-tainted runoff has forced the closure of 32 Washington beaches, some for a couple of days, others for weeks. The problem is caused when rainwater mixes with the sewer system -- sometimes by design and sometimes thanks to old sewer pipes that let the rain seep in. The cocktail of polluted runoff and raw sewage overwhelms the sewage treatment plant, forcing the combined sewer overflow (or CSO) to dump the waste into a nearby river, lake, or bay.
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