The Environmental Protection Agency recently held a session: “Green Roofs: Beautiful and Innovative Solutions to Stormwater Pollution.” It will be available as a webcast in about two weeks, here.  
Many communities across the country are struggling to address impacts from stormwater runoff on their water resources. People who toss their car oil down the sewer or dump trash on the street contribute to the pollution in stormwater runoff. (Overdevelopment of land doesn’t help because the grass and soil are needed to soak up storm water before it floods rivers.) Innovative low impact development practices such as green roofs can help manage stormwater runoff  and they also help conserve energy, mitigate urban heat islands, and reduce a community’s carbon footprint. Learn more about green roofs here..
Stormwater run off contributes to the pollution of our drinking water. In Philadelphia, the rivers were once so polluted (by storm water runoff and other factors) that the poor Shad nearly went extinct. In a few months, the might Shad will be making their annual trek from the ocean to the rivers to spawn (they are SO much cooler than Salmon!). If you’d like to learn more about Philly’s Phish, check this out.