Storm drains are used to prevent flooding during the rain falling or snow and ice melting. Storm drains are usually covered by large grates, or they may be open on the roadways. The water collected in the storm drains is then carried to the local sources of water as creeks, lakes, rivers or the ocean. On an average summer day approximately one million gallons of water flows through the urban drain system, during rainy weather this yardsticks rises to billions of gallons.
One of the good example of the necessity of the storm drain system is a devastating flood in California that happened 1938. It resulted 119 deaths and approximately 40 million dollars in property damage.

All the drain water is called storm water runoff, and it contains not just dust from the roads and simple rainwater but other pollutants and waste including litter, food leftovers, fertilizes, etc. All these admixtures can easily pollute waterways and make drinking water sources useless.
All the storm water runoff that doesn't evaporate or seep into the ground flows for many miles through the drain system directly to the local natural water sources.

The contamination of the storm water runoff is different mostly influenced by residential, industrial and construction waste products. Residential waste includes different bacteria, viruses, parasites caused by the pet waste that is often left of the ground; also it's vehicle fluids like oil, gas or antifreeze, that cause the main problem of water pollution in the country. Industrial waste that comes into the storm water runoffs can be different chemicals, toxic substances left on the ground and any kind of toxic smoke that condensates and comes to the rainwater. Construction waste includes different kinds of chemicals that penetrate to the rainwater form the construction and they mostly consist of dangerous and toxic substances.

Very often in big megapolis areas like San Diego, Los Angeles or New York the drain system is not able to function properly because of the huge amount of water drained and the same amount of litter and street trash. As the result most of the street trash gets directly into the ocean water. As the Storm water Pollution Guide for Businesses tells: "once entered the pipelines of the drain storm system, the polluted water comes directly to the San Diego Bay causing large amounts of pollution." As it continues: "Collectively storm water and runoff from houses deposit several tons of plastic and substantial amounts of toxic substances to the Bay every year." But the misuse of the storm drain because of the street litter is not the only problem that faces the ecological and environment protection authorities. There is another serious problem that in many locations the storm drain system and waste systems are united into one and as the result it causes serious pollutions of natural water sources. "Combined sewer overflows: For many years communities throughout Michigan would collect and treat storm water in conjunction with waste water. However, as systems began to age and no longer had the capacity to treat sewage during large storm, all water was released to local waterways. Many communities, including those around White Lake, have disconnected wastewater (sewer) and storm water drains, but now most storm water is untreated and is highly contaminated." (from Storm water runoff available on web )

If to refer to the official statistics we can find that storm drain pollution is not an exaggerated problem at all, but very serious one: "One gallon of used motor oil can contaminate 1 million gallons of water. When used motor oil is applied to roads, more than 90 percent of it leaves the road surface on dust particles or in surface runoff. Used oil is the single largest source (over 40%) of oil pollution in the U.S. harbor and waterways. At 385 million gallons per year, Americans carelessly dispose of 35 times more oil than was spilled in the entire Valdez oil spill. At least half of the amount is disposed of by do-it-yourselfers who change their own oil and disposed of it improperly"( from Facts about Storm drain pollution available on web:

http://www.savetheharbor.org/stormpollution.html)
With the development of business on the coast line earthier on the eastern side, or the Western side of the united states, the problem of storm drain pollution becomes serious from year to year. The only way to solve it is careful control of the recycling and monitoring of street pollution. The statement that "One gallon of used oil can create an eight-acre slick on surface water, threatening fish, waterfowl and other aquatic life. Used oil contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals which cause severe pollution and can kill the micro-organism at the base of the marine food chain" makes everyone to think about it.
Understandably the problem of storm drain water pollution can not be solved completely because the possibility that there will always be contamination in water is very high. What we can do is mainly minimize the risks of storm water pollution. For the majority it may seem to be the task for the ecological and environment protection authorities, but the role of the individual in solution of this problem is equally important. There is a lot of space for measures that every one of us can take to prevent waterways pollution, and most of them are simple and just ask to be reasonable in our own actions.

Most of the measures that everyone can take concern the toxic materials that we use in our daily life. Antifreeze used in the cars is a very toxic substance and can cause a big damage once being spilled into water. That's why it's very necessary to repair the radiator system of the car if it leaks and to recycle or keep used antifreeze separately from other waste materials and with the appearance of any possibility to utilize it properly, the same measures should be taken to recycle motor oil and other toxic materials. Also it's essential to keep the yard clean, collect and recycle all the garbage in the compost containers. Fertilizes and pesticides should be minimally used and recycled in hazardous waste bags. If every one would follow these instructions the risks of waterways pollutions would be visibly reduced.

The continuing pollution of the waterways forced the government authorities to take the legislature acts that would regulate the water pollution as the article Storm Drains and Water Quality tells: "In November 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule to implement Section 402(p) of the Clean Water Act, federal legislation aimed at preserving the quality of America's waters. This final rule requires cities with populations greater than 100,000 that have separate storm sewer systems to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Cities must apply for this permit to ensure the EPA that their storm sewer systems are operating as efficiently and cleanly as possible." (Household Hazardous Waste Project, University of Missouri)

One of the most recent and successfully working projects on protection of the storm drain water from contamination is "Clean Water" project that is running in San Diego area, California. Because the pollution from the runoff water is the main source of ocean pollution in the California coast with all well-known outcomes it came necessary to regulate and renew the whole storm drain system of the area. It includes drain control over the businesses, communities also includes educational measures as well as direct renewal of the complex drain system of the area.

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