Stormwater Improvements
What?
In addition to restoring publicly-owned floodplains, streams and environmental assets, the DPW's Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration works with private and nonprofit partners to understand and reduce stormwater pollution. Its ongoing projects restore stream systems and wetland habitat, repair erosion, and rebuild damaged stormwater management structures.
Why?
When rain or snowmelt flows through developed areas – covered in paved streets, parking lots and building rooftops – it doesn’t filter into the soil like it would in a natural landscape. As we channel the water out of our cities and neighborhoods and into rivers, streams, creeks, and coastal waters, it takes the pollution it picks up with it.
Slowing the flow of stormwater and finding ways to let it filter into the ground is an effective strategy for protecting aquatic life and improving the health of our local waterways.
