ABSTRACT
Stormwater quality is a concern for all countries; they all maintain regulatory oversight on general water quality issues in their respective areas. In Europe, the European Environment Agency oversees water and stormwater quality issues. Stormwater is not regulated as a separate issue but as one element of surface water quality. The E.U. Water Framework Directive (WFD) of October 2000 sets the framework and objectives for water quality protection. Specific regulations are delegated to individual member states. In the United States, the basic legal document governing stormwater is the Clean Water Act. It deals with all aspects of surface water quality. The Act has been revised a few times and has evolved with the environmentalist movement. Stormwater runoff is generated from rain and snowmelt that flows over land and surfaces, such as paved streets, industrial lots, farms, forests, parking lots, and buildings without soaking into the ground. The runoff picks up various contaminants including debris and trash, soils and sediments, deteriorated coatings, industrial operations, paints, and various chemicals and oils from building structures, streets, and highways. In the nineteenth century, even U.S. rivers were known to catch on fire, as happened to the Cuyahoga River (Ohio) in 1868.
