Nature, food, and water 255thesurrounding neighborhood. The solutions that also address water scarcity
are especially cost effective.
Although flood reduction is a prime societal goal, once again natural sys-
tems and nature will be big winners with these solutions. Establishing and
maintaining woody vegetation along stream and riverbanks provides a multi-
tude of benefits (Decamps and Decamps2001). Recharging groundwater keeps
streams flowing and can support wetland vegetation, an extremely rich source of
wildlife and biodiversity. Small neighborhood basin parks along lower portions
of a stream system would provide seasonal wetlands for wildlife.
Two f lows: stormwater and sewage
Numerous sewage-treatment facilities are spread across the region to
serve cities and towns (Acebillo and Folch2000). Currently stormwater runoff
and human sewage enter and flow in the same piping system to a secondary
sewage-treatment facility. During rainstorms, especially heavy ones, the systems
apparently are often overloaded so overflow raw sewage directly enters a stream
or river. Villages with less than about 2000 people have some home septic sys-
tems, but mostly wastesseem to be piped to a nearby gully or stream (Narcis
Prat, personal communication). From a public-health perspective, treatment of
human sewage is the most effective way to stop the spread ofE. coliand many
other illnesses and diseases. Also, stormwater washes a range of toxic substances
from urban and highway sources into sewage-treatment facilities.
Separate drainage systems for stormwater and sewage would provide numer-
ous ecological and human benefits (Color Figure43)(Forman 2004a). By removing
stormwater flows from the sewage-treatment facility, the treatment of human
sewage would be more effective. During rainstorms, overloads and overflows of
rawsewage would be much less frequent. Disease spread would be diminished
and public-health authorities happier. Streams and rivers would look less like
asewer and would smell better. They would become places to walk along and
enjoy, almost as if a new linear park suddenly appeared by every major town and
city. Yet the ecological gains would be more extensive. With effective secondary
treatment of human sewage, the aquatic ecosystems in almost every stream and
river would improve. Native fish, herons, and fishermen could thrive.
The stormwater story is more interesting. Many stormwater drainage pipes,
rather than leading to sewage-treatment facilities, or even directly to a stream,
could simply lead to a depression (stormwater depression)inthe ground, tiny or
large, which may quickly become a wetland (Forman 2004a). Floodplains with a
high watertable are good places for wetlands. The depression temporarily holds
waterfrom a storm; some evaporation occurs while water is slowly absorbed,
sponge-like, into the ground. The water level in the depression tends to slowly