Welcome to our new Storm Water page - Storm water flowing down the street and entering a catch basin during a rainstorm is a common sight in almost every neighborhood in Portsmouth. Have you ever stopped and wondered where that water ends up or what is actually in that water? The reality might surprise you. In Portsmouth, most storm water ends up in our coastal waters, either by direct overland flow or by flowing through our town-maintained storm drain system. Many people assume that storm drains lead to some type of treatment facility. That is almost never the case, and it definitely is not so in Portsmouth. Whatever enters local storm drains ultimately ends up in the Bay. Why is this a problem? Well, because in many cases, storm water is polluted water. When rainwater hits the roadway or your roof top, it picks up and mixes with whatever is there. That may include everything from bird droppings to bacteria in dog waste to motor oil leaking from a car. It may include yard fertilizer spilled on the sidewalk, the soap used to wash a car in the driveway, or sand and salt from wintertime snow removal. And unfortunately it may also include improperly treated human waste by coming in contact with a failing septic system. These various sources of contamination lead to various consequences for our local waters. In the worst cases, highly polluted storm water runoff can contribute to closures of swimming beaches and shell fishing grounds, which we have unfortunately seen here in Portsmouth. So, what can we do about this? Polluted storm water is the result of two important contributing factors; (1) State and local land-use regulations and policies, and (2) our own everyday personal actions as citizens and property owners. As citizens, we have an important role to play in both aspects. Through active public participation and informed decision-making we can bring positive change to the former, and by being aware of our daily activities and their effect on water quality we can bring changes to the later. In the days and weeks ahead, I will overflow this page (pardon the pun) with storm water information. My intention is to split the page into two sections; (1) what is going on with the regulation and storm water management side of things, and (2) what we all can do as citizens in our daily activities to improve water quality in our town. Gary Crosby Assistant Planner
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