Flow from rooftops, parking lots and streets is not retained but ushered downstream. Of course engineered solutions are necessary to control unusual high flows that are a threat to public safety, but we have traditionally ignored the value of stormwater as a resource, and as a partial solution to droughts. A drought is a natural phenomenon caused by changes in weather patterns resulting in less than normal rainfall. We cannot manufacture more rain, but we can better manage the water that falls in our region. The recent drought has been especially devastating because the region s ground water had substantially declined over the past two years.
Ground water is the underground water that feeds our streams and water supply wells.
This underground reservoir is recharged ONLY by sufficient infiltration of rainfall through the soil. Without either rainfall or infiltration, ground water becomes scarce and streams become dry. This year, the simultaneous occurrence of the severe drought and flooding from Hurricane Floyd hit hard in Pennsylvania. The impacts of both have been documented through ongoing USGS stream and ground water monitoring programs in Chester County. Small perennial tributaries were observed dry in the late stages of the drought in suburban areas such as near Exton, PA, in the West Valley Creek watershed.