The Stormwater Quiz

What do you already know about stormwater? Take this quiz and find out!

1. What fraction of the total water supply on the planet is available for use by humans?

	a. 0.1 percent
	b. 8 percent
	c. 25 percent
	d. 48 percent

2. How many Americans can correctly identify that stormwater runoff is a common source of pollution in streams, rivers and oceans?

	a. 3 percent
	b. 22 percent
	c. 31 percent
	d. 48 percent

3. Recent research shows that water quality declines sharply when impervious cover (roads, driveways, roofs, etc.) in a watershed exceeds:

	a. 10 percent
	b. 25 percent
	c. 45 percent
	d. 75 percent

4. The residential zoning category that causes the water quality of local streams to decline sharply is:

	a. 1/4 acre lots
	b. 1/2 acre lots
	c. 1 acre lots
	d. 10 acre lots

5. How many gallons of water fall on a one-acre yard during a one-inch rainfall?

	a. 5,800 gallons
	b. 10,200 gallons
	c. 27,200 gallons
	d. 51,000 gallons

6. How much more stormwater runoff is produced by a one-acre parking lot compared to a one-acre meadow?

	a. Twice as much
	b. Five times as much
	c. Ten times as much
	d. Sixteen times as much

7. A single quart of motor oil dumped down a storm sewer creates an oil slick of what size?

	a. No slick because the oil travels from the storm            sewer to a water treatment plant
	b. 160 square feet
	c. 2 acres
	d. 14 acres

8. How many pounds of grass trimmings are generated by the average suburban lawn each year?

	a. 50 pounds
	b. 400 pounds
	c. 1,500 pounds
	d. 2 tons

9. What percentage of Americans who own a septic system don’t know where it is located on their property?

	a. 0 percent
	b. 2 percent
	c. 12 percent
	d. 32 percent

10. How many fecal coliform bacteria are in an average-sized dog dropping?

	a. 50
	b. 1,200
	c. 55,000
	d. 3 billion

View the answers here

Excerpted from the Center for Watershed Protection’s Web site.