BRIDGEPORT -- An inch of rain falling on a 100-car parking lot
causes runoff of about 20,000 gallons. For a shopping mall with
5,000 parking spaces, that number swells to a million. There are
thousands of acres of parking lots, driveways, roofs, streets
and other impervious surfaces in lower Fairfield County, and
rainwater flowing off these expanses of asphalt and concrete
causes water quality problems for streams, rivers, ponds, lakes
and even Long Island Sound. But there are solutions, and a new
website, www.reducerunoff.org, aims to educate residents,
business and municipal officials on what can be done. "The
website teaches people how they can reduce the amount of
rainwater that flows off their property, such as creating
rainwater collection sites, installing rain barrels or by using
paving materials that can absorb water," said Kierran Broatch,
creator of the site for two environmental groups, Save the Sound
and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. He said homeowners
can opt for permeable driveways