Rain on Our Parade: A Quick Stormwater Review

Rain on Our Parade:

A Quick Stormwater Review[1]

Ted R. Woolsey

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Happy Independence Day weekend! As it stands, the weatherman is forecasting hot and sunny, clear and bright skies throughout Central Texas for the holiday. But with tropical storms burgeoning in the Gulf of Mexico some parts of Texas, namely Houston, and other coastal areas heading toward Louisiana will likely spend the holiday weekend under the umbrella of summer showers.[2]

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, over 85% of Texas is currently in a drought.[3] So, any Texan should be grateful for any possible precipitation! But with The Fourth of July fast approaching I know at least a few people will be sad to have it potentially rain on their parade.

I understand the sentiment. My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Independence Day, in that order, and I am planning to cook by the pool with family and friends, rain or shine. Personally, I am hoping it will rain. Why? Because we need it. Doubtful for my part of Texas, but maybe luck will push some of the coastal precipitation my way. A big “what if,” but what if it does? Let’s take a quick look at what happens when it rains on your Fourth of July parade.

Early Monday morning, the sun begins to rise over a gathering of anvil-shaped cumulonimbus clouds. The first raindrop starts its quick 10,000-foot descent upon a small Texas town. Below, lawn chairs line Main Street, and families young and old fill them. Everyone woke up early to claim the best spots to watch the parade dash through. They are all hoping those clouds aren’t as heavy as they look.

?????????????Happily, the first drop lands lightly on the deck of an old Ford pickup attached to the first parade float…

?????????????Now what? Well, as those big and (un)fortunately heavy clouds let loose more and more rain onto our idyllic parade, that tiny drop of precipitation becomes runoff, or stormwater.

Stormwater ends up in all sorts of places. Some of it will land and settle in grassy areas where it can slowly infiltrate into the soil becoming groundwater. Some will land upon the impermeable material (asphalt) that tops Main Street tracking our parade route until it conveys into the gutter, the public infrastructure, picking up pollutants along the way. Some stormwater evaporates, but the rest will runoff into the local waterways and, more often than not, is not filtered for debris like sediment and other total suspended solids.

So, what are we to do? While there is not a perfect solution, there are a lot of great options for our communities to take to ensure stormwater runoff is filtered and treated before it makes it into our lakes and rivers. For a start:?

·??????We can plant Vegetated areas along waterways to act as riparian buffers. A simple strip of native vegetation can “treat” stormwater runoff by cleaning pollutants like heavy metals, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, and sediment. Plants thrive on many of these pollutants!

·??????We can introduce local development building code incentives for engineers to utilize greener stormwater management practices like Low Impact Development, e.g., solutions like rain gardens and bioswales to slow down post-development hydrology and treat runoff.

·??????We can make sure that existing best management practices like outfall controls are in place along our Main Street to filter out floatables and debris.

·??????And individually we can make the much-needed effort to dispose of hazardous materials like oil and grease properly.

Many of the above solutions are easily attainable, but unless communities make the effort to push for smart, effective, and clear stormwater policies runoff will do what it does—run downhill, picking up speed.

So, if it does rain on the parade this weekend, I hope you can look at the positive side of things! We REALLY do need the rain! But I hope that his short read will also make you think about stormwater in a different way than you had before reading it. If you ever even thought of it at all.

Happy Independence Day! And have a happy Fourth!

TRW

7/1/2022

[1] This article was originally published on July 1st of 2022. Please see the footnotes below for any updated information.

[2] Nearly a year ago, any precipitation would have been pleasantly received. The state of Texas was experiencing over 80% drought conditions. As of today, 6/29/23, we have had a much better year in terms of precipitation and it seems that Dallas, not Houston, will be expecting showers over their 4th of July parade.

[3] Currently, just under a quarter of Texas (23%) is experiencing drought conditions. Please see: https://www.twdb.texas.gov/newsmedia/drought/doc/weekly_drought_report.pdf?