The water we use today will be re-used tomorrow. The quality of the water is impacted by the quality of the water when it enters the surface waters. Two sources of storm water pollution are point source pollution and nonpoint source pollution. Point source pollution comes from a specific location such as a factory or water treatment plant. Nonpoint source pollution comes from many different locations and is hard to identify a specific source.
Many times nonpoint pollution occurs after it rains.
Storm water runoff picks up pollutants such as sediment, debris, chemicals, and organic matter. All of these pollutants are deposited into the surface water with no prior treatment. The objective is to treat point source water before it enters the surface waters, or to control the amount of pollutants we leave on and in the ground subject to non-point runoff. The University of Michigan has the potential to be a contributing factor in nonpoint source runoff from the large land area and multiple buildings. However, through combined efforts of everyone on campus, the University is able to maintain the quality of surface waters.