Maintaining Good Water Quality for All

All water is connected. Storm drains and watersheds carry rainwater directly into local lakes, rivers, and groundwater. These become community sources of drinking water. It’s time to start paying attention to the things that affect our water quality.

Here are some simple things you can do to protect our water quality:

• Adopt-A-Storm Drain and keep it clean and free of debris.
• Clean driveways and sidewalks with a broom and dispose of the debris. Do NOT sweep anything into the street or gutter.
• Minimize your use of lawn and garden fertilizers. They cause harmful algae growth in lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
• Collect rainwater for your garden or lawn, and grow plants native to your area.
• Properly dispose of household hazardous waste at local drop off sites. Do NOT dispose of household chemicals down sink drains. 
• Pick up your pet’s waste. It can raise the amount of nutrients and bacteria in our waters to harmful levels.
• Reduce water usage by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, and only running full loads of laundry. 
• Reduce the amount of deicing salt used on driveways and sidewalks. Oversalting can harm both water and soil qualities.
• Deposit unused medications at a drop off site. Do NOT flush them down toilets or drains. 
• Enjoy area lakes and rivers by going fishing or swimming.