~ Stormwater Runoff ~

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified sediment as the most widespread pollutant in American watersheds, leading to aquatic habitat destruction, decline in fisheries and biodiversity, and overall degradation of water quality.  Erosion and sedimentation is a normal process, however 70% of what we see today is due to human activity, most notably construction projects.

Stormwater flowing through the bare soil of a construction site carries 2,000 times the sediment load that would typically leave an equally sized forested plot. To date the Virginia Department of Water Quality has identified 4,318 stream miles that are impaired due to stormwater runoff. Virginia’s population is predicted to increase almost 15% by 2020, and development is projected to grow more in the next 40 years than it has in the past 400.

 In response to this issue, the EPA has outlined vegetative and structural measures that must be in place on construction sites to reduce sediment runoff, such as silt fences, curb inlets, sediment traps, and soil stabilization. These measures, called Best Management Practices (BMP), can minimize problems associated with stormwater pollution while making development in Virginia much more environmentally sensitive.