Stormwater
300 Sixth Street Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 394-4154 - Fax (605) 355-3083

Stormwater Defined

Stormwater is runoff from a rainstorm or melting snow. Urban landscapes - unlike forests, wetlands, and grasslands that trap precipitation and allow it to filter slowly into the ground - contain great expanses of impermeable asphalt and concrete surfaces that prevent water from seeping into the ground. Large amounts of water therefore remain above the surface, accumulate, and run off. Storm sewer systems channel this runoff from roads and other impermeable surfaces and route it - often with no treatment - into local water bodies like Rapid Creek.