Protecting our Waterways

Keep our lakes and rivers clean
Keep our lakes and rivers clean

The leaves are falling, and it is raking season.  What does this have to do with water quality?

The substances that turn our lakes and rivers green each summer come from our lawns and yards. We think of leaves as waste, but to a lake they are food. The algae in lakes love leaves, and when we feed lakes too many leaves, algal blooms turn our lakes and rivers green and smelly. Protecting water is everyone’s job What can you do? Simple–remember the land/water connection! What we do to the land we do to the water. Clean your streets when the leaves fall from the trees, and when you mow the grass clean your streets, also. Keep our lakes and rivers clean.

Falling Leaves and Protecting Clean Water

011Fall Clean Up: Remember your curbs and gutters to protect our lakes and waterways. !

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 2.22.21 PMDid you know that just five bags of leaves and organic debris from streets and sidewalks could contain one pound of phosphorus?  Over time, this can lead to the growth of hundreds of pounds of algae.  

Cleaning up our curbs and gutters will prevent the highly nutrient-rich leaves and debris from entering rivers, lakes, and streams, and reduces pollution at the source, and improves water quality in our community. Fight water pollution in the street near your home today.

What to do?

— Sweep up leaves, sediment, trash and recyclable materials on our streets.

— Clean out storm drains.

https://enduringenvirons.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/fall-clean-up-remember-your-curbs-and-gutters/#more-1370.

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