While driving around town, I've noted that there are note these little
rivers of gravel, mud and debris that have been pushed over to the
sides of the road. It appears that this is the residue left from trucks
trying to keep drivers safe on icy roads. A good thing! Yes! However
....
Is that stuff going to continue to sit on the side of the road? Not
likely, with any decent snow melt or rain, much of it is going to be
washed into the stormwater syste. This serves to start filling up
sections of the stormwater system. It ends up reducing the space
available for stormwater to be held and directed away from homes,
businesses, streets, etc.
If you take a glass and fill it with
water, then add a handful of gravel to the glass, what happens? The
glass overflows. You have removed some of the area for the water to be
and it simply overflows the container.
Granted, that is not
exactly like the way stormwater systems work, but the basic concepts
are the same. When you have pipes and reservoirs designed to hold X
amount of water (whether sitting or moving) and you add in X amount of
solid debris (gravel, sand, sticks, stones, etc.) you lose some of the
space available for the water to travel through.
Rumblings are
already occurring around Christiansburg about problems as the snow
melts. Once all of this gravel gets into the system, it is likely to
get worse.
I sure hope the Town stays on top of keeping those
lines and reservoirs cleaned out! In Blacksburg, a stormwater flush is
done annually to keep such buildup from becoming a problem. But, as the
Mayor and various Town Council members have noted previously, "We are
not Blacksburg." Guess we will have to wait and see. Gotta run get some more photos of the gravel rivers. See ya later.