Recently, I had a chance to interview Eric Karch, Chair of the River des Peres Watershed Coalition (mission of the coalition: promote awareness of rivers and respect for water) and Professional Engineer (Civil) specializing in Water Resources at Reitz & Jens, Inc., a 45-year-old St Louis firm specializing in geotechnical engineering and hydrology. Eric received his MS from Virginia Tech. I asked him a few questions on the state of freshwater in America–specifically as it relates to stormwater, wastewater (sewage) and what we (folks who aren’t civil engineers specializing in water resources) could do to keep it clean. Eric offers a lot of great information as well as steps to fix current problems–this is an important read, share it with your friends, colleagues, family members, policymakers…

JM-What is the effect of heavy rains on stormwater drains?
EK-The problem isn’t rainwater that falls directly from the sky onto the lakes and rivers. Instead, it’s the rainwater that runs over impervious surfaces and ends up flowing into creeks fast, hot and dirty. It can pick up pet and livestock waste, fertilizers, pesticides, detergents, trash, invasive plant seeds, automotive liquids like motor oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, leaves, grass clippings and more. All of these elements have detrimental effects on the quality of the water in lakes, rivers, streams and oceans; water that communities downriver use as drinking water; water that natural communities of plants and animals require to live. The other problem is that older American cities handle rainwater and sanitary sewage (toilet water) using one set of underground pipes. This was considered efficient back in the day because one set of pipes is cheaper than two and rain water from small rain storms would occasionally flush out the system. However, during heavy rain storms, the system backs up due to lack of capacity and releases raw sewage into streams. In some cities, these combined sewer overflows happens over 50 times every year.

JM-What improvements in stormwater and/or wastewater treatment (either just beginning or on the horizon) give you hope?
EK-As with all human endeavors, we are learning from our mistakes. Unlike many parts of the world, water is in such great abundance in many parts of the U.S. (though not all) that it is often viewed as a nuisance; something that needs to be moved away from your property as quickly as possible. Add to this a legacy attitude that ALL land can support human infrastructure. Historically, property owners maximized use of their land by building structures close to creeks; land called the floodplain. We did not adequately account for the costs of local issues that came later like repairing flood damage, or the need to stabilize eroding creek banks threatening foundations. Even less attention was given to regional issues like loss of natural habitat or the impact this development has on communities living downstream.

There are two lessons we’ve learned from these mistakes. First, city planners are beginning to have the long term vision necessary to understand that costs of floodplain development to the community outweigh the additional tax base gained. They’re beginning to prohibit floodplain development and require that we maintain natural buffers around creeks and rivers. The key will be to make sure these lessons learned extend to the communities on the outskirts of town where land is ripe for development and floodplains are not yet impacted. Second, we’re learning that faster is not better when it comes to systems that move rainwater away from roads and rooftops. Wend readers may be aware of the concept of bio-mimicry, where we observe natural processes and apply these observations to man-made systems. In nature, water falls on trees and soil where it slowly soaks into the ground before entering creeks. We are finding ways to move rainwater away from infrastructure while taking advantage of opportunities to detain this water on the property so it doesn’t pick up as much speed, heat and pollutants.

JM-What is the number one easy thing people can do to help stormwater systems? What is the number one extreme measure folks could take?
EK-There are easy things homeowners can do for their yard that can have a big impact. Take care of your yard–if you have one.
Individual property owners are empowered by the easy concept of disconnection of runoff. To understand what this means, take a look at your roof gutter downspout. Is it connected to an underground pipe? Does it flow across your driveway and into the street? If so, disconnect it from the system. All you have to do is redirect your downspout onto the grass or landscaping 10 feet from the foundation. Make a bigger impact by directing this flow into a rain garden, which is just a garden built in a depression that helps soak up rainwater where it falls. If you don’t have room for either of these, join the many others who are re-discovering the benefits of an age-old simple technique to harvest rainwater. Get yourself a rain barrel. All of these techniques will keep water that falls on your property from picking up pollution, and instead allow water to soak into the ground. In areas with combined sewers, you will help reduce the frequency that raw sewage overflows into creeks.

Readers prepared to do something more extreme might consider changing some habits. My three suggestions aren’t really extreme, but it can be difficult to change habits. Pick up after your pet, even in your own backyard. Many say to me that pet waste eventually washes away or biodegrades, but this material ends up in creeks. When you consider the pet population in the U.S. is approximately 77.5 million (APPMA, 2009), the cumulative effect on water quality is significant. Would you let your child defecate in the back yard and let it biodegrade? Why treat pet waste differently? Second, adjust your lawncare practices. Turf and grass specialists say that you can reduce or even eliminate the need for fertilizer and herbicide by adjusting the height of your mower to 3 to 4 inches and leaving clippings on the yard. Allowing grass to grow slightly higher shades out weeds and creates more vigorous grass growth with deeper roots. To put this potential impact in perspective, consider that there are 25 to 30 million acres of turfgrass in the U.S. (Roberts and Roberts, 1989). If it were considered a crop, it would the fifth largest after corn, soybeans, wheat and hay (USDA, 1992). Finally, for those living in older cities that have combined sewer systems, try to minimize discharge of water during heavy rainstorms. When you flush the toilet or run laundry and dishwashers during rainstorms, you are making the choice to pour this dirty water directly into creeks. Remember the old saying, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow.”

JM-Final thoughts on the future of clean water.
EK-Humans need water to survive and access to clean water is a basic human right. We can all take pride in the great strides American society has taken to improve water quality, with the 1972 Clean Water Act being the most notable. It requires basic concepts like cleaning dirty water with treatment plants. As an example, my city of St Louis released 100 billion gallons of sewer overflows annually prior to 1950. Construction of treatment plants and retrofits to the system have reduced our annual release to 20 billion gallons (MSD, 2009). Though we’ve made great progress, we are not done yet. Further reduction will require a combination of expensive system upgrades by the sewer authority, and disconnection of runoff on individual properties. Property owners are learning just how easy disconnection of runoff can be, and how rain barrels and rain gardens add beauty, utility and even security during periods of drought. It has been said that “you don’t miss your water ’till your well runs dry.” The future of clean water is clear to many. As with all federal legislation, there are always chances to weaken or eliminate rules. So stay vigilant. As with all worthwhile causes, it’s up those in the know to talk to friends and neighbors about these simple ideas that have great importance for a basic need–water.