We finally received the rain we needed this week.  While this rain was good for our lawns and gardens, the excess water needs to run somewhere and that somewhere is usually our lakes and streams. Before I proceed, I need to define a term: impervious surface. Impervious surface is any surface on land that is impenetrable to water and prevents its absorption into the ground. Examples include rooftops, sidewalks, parking lots, and roads. The more impervious surface in a concentrated area, the less surface there is for rain to be absorbed into the ground. When rain is absorbed into the soil, it percolates through the ground getting filtered along the way and usually ends up in the groundwater. When rain is not able to be absorbed into the ground, it ends up in basements, collects in low areas, runs directly into lakes and streams from adjacent yards and flows into storm sewers. [Read more…]