stormwater

noun

storm·​wa·​ter ˈstȯrm-ˌwȯ-tər 

-ˌwä-

: rainwater produced by a storm

a stormwater management system

As stormwater runs over lawns, streets and other man-made surfaces, it picks up pollutants—phosphorous and nitrogen from fertilizers, bacteria from pet waste and road salt, to name a few—and carries them into local streams and lakes.

—Delen Goldberg

This rainfall "of biblical proportions," as the local newspaper described it, swamped the city in waist-high stormwater.

—Christopher Cooper and Robert Block

Examples of stormwater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Social media put the storm’s effects on display, with videos of floodwaters leaving cars stranded on highways, stormwater runoff erupting onto city streets and waterfalls cascading onto the subway tracks at Penn Station. — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2026

Semper Fi will also construct a four- to seven-acre urban filter strip, which will assist in filtering stormwater that moves through the area, and improve the lake’s water quality, city officials said. — Addison Wright, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026

These overflows may send stormwater mixed with untreated or partially treated sewage into waterways. — Gabby Sartori, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026

The county's massive flood control system was created in part to reduce the risk of stormwater flooding. — Chelsea Hylton, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stormwater

• backwater
• bathwater
• blackwater
• breakwater
• deepwater
• edgewater
• feedwater
• floodwater
• freshwater
• granddaughter
• groundwater
• headwater