We are very lucky in the United States that we have an infrastructure in place that provides – for the most part – a safe living environment. Things that we take for granted such as clean drinking water, breathable air, and uncontaminated foods are often special commodities in other countries. The reason we have such an environment in the United States can be attributed to the forethoughts of those in our long-distant past who put together the systems and associated policies that keep us worry-free.
Yet, those same wonderful minds who put together those systems decades (even centuries) ago never suspected the enormous boost of urban development that has since transpired.
Such large-scale development greatly reduced the effectiveness of the once-successful infrastructure in various cities. This has led to poor air quality, contaminated food systems, and unsafe drinking water. Research has shown that the safeguards – put into place in the early 1900s – are now failing because they were not constructed to handle the industrial boom that followed. One such system that could have detrimental health effects nationwide is something people generally don’t think about as harmful: storm water.
Storm water collection systems were constructed long before the automobile even existed. The idea was to divert extra water that wasn’t soaked up by dirt roads, fields, trees and other vegetation into nearly streams, rivers or lakes. Because there were plenty of areas where rains could seep into the ground, the amount of water to divert was minimal – even during some of the heaviest rainstorms. Not so today. Even worse is the fact that today’s storm water is not just water. Because of paved parking lots, shingled roofs and treated lawns, metals, sediment and chemical pollutants are easily carried off with the rushing water and emptied into a stream, river or lake. This is when storm water morphs into a public health issue.
Acute illnesses have resulted from consuming contaminated water. These include gastrointestinal illnesses, cryptosporidiosis, Giardia and other waterborne diseases. Many of these diseases go unreported mainly because they are difficult to diagnose. Furthermore, we do not think of waterborne illnesses as a cause of disease in the United States today because of the systems that had been put into place. Yet, herein lies the problem. These systems are failing.
Although tucked in rural Pennsylvania, Meadville is not immune to such a problem. Our storm water system is 100 years old. While it was cleverly designed to collect water from storms and heavy rains, Meadville’s system basically utilizes two streams to guide water from the City of Meadville into French Creek. It uses Mill Run, a creek which is slowly fed from Tamarack Lake and runs underneath the city to empty into French Creek near Bicentennial Park, and Neason Run, a concrete-encased waterway which takes water from the Neason Hill area underground and below Meadville Medical Center’s Grove Street facility and eventually into French Creek.
Like nearly every other system in the country, Meadville’s storm water system worked beautifully until the industrial age when impervious surfaces (paved roads and parking lots, sidewalks, and building roofs) came into existence. The expansion of the roadway system and housing boom saw the loss of trees and vegetation that had once aided with the storm water collection process.
While the city does divert water from such impervious surfaces, it remains faced with two significant issues. First, it is dealing with a 100-year-old storm system that was never meant to handle such an influx of water which causes significant flooding during nearly every storm. Second, the water emptying into Mill and Neason runs is not only exponentially more in volume than 100 years ago, it also contains significant toxicants mentioned earlier that eventually flow into French Creek. French Creek is a well-used recreational water system. People swim in it, fish in it, kayak over it, and some use its water for cooking and/or consuming. With inadequate storm systems, the Creek could become a seriously potent water source.
As a side note, research has shown that impervious surfaces that do not drain into the storm system can lead to pooling of storm water, which increases the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Despite the nuisance bites from these little bugs, mosquitoes also carry dengue hemorrhagic fever, West Nile virus and other infectious diseases.
The City of Meadville is fully aware of their aging system and has been addressing it for several years. While the main thrust of the city’s initiative is to halt the flooding by overhauling the storm water system, it is also aware of the importance of reducing the impervious surfaces throughout the city for health reasons. Short of destroying all paved roads and parking lots in Meadville, the city is looking at several options, including the construction of rain gardens in key flooding areas. Not only will rain gardens help collect storm water but they will keep toxic chemicals from flowing into French Creek.
If we do nothing, the situation will only worsen. Therefore, it may be beneficial for each person to look at what they could do to help reduce storm water runoff into French Creek. Several studies in the American Journal of Public Health have noted that building rain gardens as well as large areas for water collection such as meadows and wetlands can have a significant impact. While such things may be out of the realm of possibility for most citizens, there is always the “plant a tree” concept. Even the planting of just one tree can significantly aid in the reduction of storm water runoff. According to Forestry experts, one mature tree can transport up to 10,000 gallons of water per day. Imagine how much rain water could be collected just by adding trees to the city?
Again, if we do nothing, the situation will only worsen.
References:
Gaffield, S. J., Goo, R. L., Richard, L. A. & Jackson, R. J. (2003). Public health effects of inadequately managed stormwater runoff. American Journal of Public Health, 93(3), p. 1527-1533.
Nix, S. (2012). How a tree absorbs and uses water. Retrieved from http://forestry.about.com/od/treephysiology/p/tree_water.htm.
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