RESPONSIBILITYRESPONSIBILITY| 15 Easy Ways To Protect Our Water
1. Do not wash your car out on the street if you are using non biodegradable soap. Instead, wash it on the lawn. 2. Do not deposit dog droppings on the side of the street. 3. Fix oil and radiator leaks on your car so these substances don't wash onto our water ways. 4. When you are gardening, use your leaves and hedge clippings as compost for other plants. This way it is less likely for them to end up in drains. 5. Don't throw cigarette butts or any litter onto the road. Anything that floats will end up in rivers or beaches. 6. When building or renovating, make sure sand and other materials are kept away from stormwater drains and gutters. 7. Make sure that swimming pools are backwashed into the sewer NOT the stormwater drain, the chlorine can be very damaging. 8. When building or renovating, make sure sand, concrete and other materials are kept clear from stormwater drains or gutters. 9. Use a broom to clean driveways and footpaths and put the dirt in the compost or your own back yard. Don’t hose it into the gutter. 10. When working around the house, don’t pour oils, wastewater, paint, washing up, cooking oil, fat or anything down the stormwater drain or gutter. 11. Plant native plants that use less water and don’t drop as many leaves that pollute waterways. 12. If you own a farm, fence waterways to prevent livestock from polluting water and eroding banks and creek beds. 13. Get involved with community groups to share ideas about increasing water quality and reducing pollution. 14. Don’t wash equipment, tools or paintbrushes where the wastewater will run into stormwater drains. 15. When you are walking your dog, make sure that you carry a plastic bag or a ‘pooper-scooper’ to pick up your dog’s droppings. One strategy to reduce this build up of sediment, nutrients and toxins in our receiving waters is through the installation of trash racks at strategic locations throughout the catchment area. Trash racks are designed to trap the larger gross pollutants in stormwater. They can also trap smaller particles but are generally not very effective for capturing very fine particles and dissolved pollutants. Unfortunately the fine particles transport disproportionately large amounts of heavy metals and nutrients and are also a great threat to the health of our waterways. But the fine particles can only be effectively trapped in wetlands or at their source before they enter the stormwater system. So, trash racks are only one part of the strategy to reduce stormwater pollution. Some groups that are helping with saving our environment are Keysab and watercare. Keysab can come to your school and teach you some things about our environment and ways to prevent pollution similar to the ones that I have stated above.
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