Recent research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finds stormwater runoff to be the leading source of water quality impairments to estuaries and the third largest source of impairments to lakes. Pollutants from untreated stormwater runoff can harm fish and wildlife, kill native vegetation, taint drinking water supplies, and foul recreational areas. Stormwater runoff also increases the volume and rate at which water moves across the land and into lakes and streams, leading to erosion and flooding.