No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the storm drain system or watercourses any materials, including but not limited to pollutants or waters containing any pollutant that cause or contribute to a violation of applicable water quality standards, other than storm water. The commencement, conduct, or continuance of any illegal discharge to the storm drain system is prohibited except as described hereinafter. Use Request Tracker to report illegal discharge situations.

Nonpoint Source Pollutants

Nonpoint source pollution comes from many diverse sources and is hard to control. Major nonpoint sources of pollution include excess farm and lawn nutrients that move through the soil into the groundwater or enter local water directly through runoff during heavy rains. Nonpoint source pollution includes:

• Animal wastes
• Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers
• Pesticides from agricultural lands
• Pollutants released directly into the atmosphere.
• Salts from winter road treatment
• Sediments from construction sites
• Trace metals and toxic chemicals from inadequately protected landfills

Pollutants contaminate half the swimming water in the United States and also contaminates groundwater, which makes up 95% of the country’s freshwater.