When rain or other precipitation runs off to a new location, it usually picks up a lot of gunk along the way. In fact, an estimated 10 trillion gallons of untreated stormwater runoff, containing everything from raw sewage to trash to toxins, enters U.S. waterways from city sewer systems every year. This polluted matter contaminates groundwater, damages water quality, erodes streambanks, and feeds algal blooms that devastate marine ecosystems.

Today, with special guest Dr. Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland, we explore the effects of stormwater damage on our environment, economy and health.