Urban stream

An urban stream is a waterway that flows through a densely populated, heavily developed area. Urbanized landscapes alter water flows into and within streams compared with pre-urbanized landscapes. Urban streams are often impaired in characteristic ways. The combination of impairments is referred to as "urban stream syndrome," and it includes pollution from urban stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows. Urban streams tend to be "flashier" meaning they have more frequent and larger high flow and flooding events. These alterations to the stream typically lead to changes in the communities of organisms, favoring organisms with high tolerances of the degraded conditions.

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