Let’s compare stormwater to the mail.

Postal carriers pound the pavement and bring mail to our doors. Rain and snowmelt flows off the same streets and into storm drains; those grated openings on our roads.

No real problem there.

Sometimes, through no fault of their own, postal carriers bring not-so-welcome mail to our door, such as bills and junk mail. Also through no fault of its own, stormwater whisks trash, car oil, dog poop, fertilizer and myriad other pollutants that have collected on the street into storm drains, untreated, and into the nearest waterbody.

Not so good.

So just as the mail carrier isn’t the one to blame for bringing junk mail to our door, we can’t blame stormwater itself for carrying things that we leave on the ground to nearby water bodies. The solution is pretty simple—pick up our trash, maintain our cars, pick up after our dogs—but helping everyone understand the connection between stormwater and the health of our bays, rivers and beaches can be difficult.

Stormwater pollution is our nation's greatest threat to clean water. For example, stormwater containing fecal contamination is often discharged near swimming beaches. According to the annual Testing the Waters beach water quality monitoring report published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the number of beach closings or public advisories issued at Massachusetts beaches increased steadily from 1991 through 2006. The NRDC also cites stormwater pollution as largest identified pollution source. Although the increase is due partly to better water quality monitoring, the coastal beaches of the Commonwealth continue to suffer from contaminated waters.

Stormwater pollution is complex, elusive, and even unknown to most people, but Think Blue Massachusetts is working to change that by educating citizens about their connection to water quality.