Despite the great strides in reducing water pollution over the last several decades, stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) remain a stubborn source of water pollution in urban areas. Many areas are served by a “combined” sewer system, which conveys both sewage and rain and snow runoff to sewage treatment plants, treating the sewage to acceptable pollutant and bacterial levels before discharging it back to waterways. While this system works well in dry weather, the combined sewer systems and treatment plants do not have the capacity to handle the volumes from heavy rainfall. Instead of treating all of the wastewater, combined sewer systems are designed to overflow during heavy rains, dumping urban pollutants and sewage into rivers, streams, bays, and oceans.
Combatting CSOs is difficult, and building sufficiently sized traditional, or “grey” infrastructure is often too costly or impractical. “Green” infrastructure, which uses engineered natural systems, is emerging as an important and cost-effective means to reduce stormwater flows and CSO frequency.1
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