Storm Water
What is Storm water?
Storm water is the flow of water that results from precipitation and which occurs immediately following rainfall.
When rainfall events occur, several things can happen to the precipitation. Some of the precipitation infiltrates into the soil surface, some is taken up by plants, and some is evaporated into the atmosphere. Storm water is the remaining precipitation that runs off land surfaces and impervious areas.
Storm water discharges are generated by precipitation and runoff from land, pavement, building roof tops, and other surfaces. These hardened surfaces are called impervious cover and they do not allow rainfall to infiltrate into the soil surface the way natural vegetation does. So, more of the rainfall becomes storm water runoff. Storm water run off accumulates pollutants such as oils and grease, chemicals, nutrients, metals, and bacteria as it travels across land. Heavy precipitation can also cause sewer over flows that may contaminate water sources with untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials, and other debris.
The City of Buda enforces Best Management Practices and all construction sites are checked daily to make sure that they are in compliance. City of Buda crews are constantly cleaning inlets and waterways and are on the lookout for illegal dumping into our waterways and storm sewer infrastructure.
If you see anyone dumping anything into City storm water drains or water bodies, please call 512-312-2876 or 512-801-3199 to report the activity.
Remember: only rain down the drain!