page_title: Storm drain
section_title: Function
hierarchical_section_title: Storm drain / Function
caption_attribution_description: Storm drain
context_page_description: A storm drain, storm sewer, surface water drain/sewer, or stormwater drain is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from impervious surfaces such as paved streets, car parks, parking lots, footpaths, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems.
  Drains receive water from street gutters on most motorways, freeways and other busy roads, as well as towns in areas with heavy rainfall that leads to flooding, and coastal towns with regular storms. Even gutters from houses and buildings can connect to the storm drain. Many storm drainage systems are gravity sewers that drain untreated storm water into rivers or streams—so it is unacceptable to pour hazardous substances into the drains.
  Storm drains often cannot manage the quantity of rain that falls in heavy rains or storms. Inundated drains can cause basement and street flooding. In many areas require detention tanks inside a property that temporarily hold runoff in heavy rains and restrict outlet flow to the public sewer. This reduces the risk of overwhelming the public sewer.
caption: American-style curbside storm drain receiving urban runoff
exif: {"Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 20D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "2000", "Image YResolution": "2000", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Photo Professional", "Image DateTime": "2006:09:28 10:00:14", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "148", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1008", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8245", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3200", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:28 10:00:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:28 10:00:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "190773/16384", "EXIF ApertureValue": "162885/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "154", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "800", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}