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Water is a universal solvent capable of dissolving and transporting many chemicals. What we put on the ground—lawn chemicals, agricultural fertilizers, salt on roads in winter, oils from exhaust on highways—ends up affecting water quality downstream. In the built environment, when we remove vegetation, we remove nature's mechanisms for storing and cleaning water. Asphalt surfaces on rooftops, roads, and parking lots keep water from reaching soils. Rain is piped away before soils can retain it, increasing the likelihood of flooding and erosion. Land development and urban retrofitting can be environmentally sensitive if first we understand how natural systems work.
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