Clean Water Tips

Capture the rain that falls on your property in a rain barrel, rain garden, or on the leaves of your trees and shrubs. You'll reduce flooding and keep our waterways clean.

When rainwater runs across dirty areas (like streets, sidewalks, and construction sites), it carries that pollution into our waterways. When you keep that water on-site, you can use it yourself or let it soak into the ground or evaporate, instead of picking up trash and pollution on its way to the nearest waterway.

Test your soil and read the label before you apply fertilizer. If you use too much fertilizer, the excess will just wash away in the next rain, polluting your local waterways.

If you need to use fertilizer, slow-release and phosphorus-free fertilizer are safer for the environment. And if your yard doesn't need fertilizer, there's plenty that you can do each spring. You can spread fresh grass seed, aerate your soil, and plant some of those native shrubs you've been eyeing.

In the spring, bag your grass clippings for curbside pickup. Even better, compost them to make a natural fertilizer for your garden. But whatever you do, don't dump them in a storm drain or leave them on the sidewalk!

When grass clippings decay in your composter, that's healthy fertilizer. But when they rot in our streams, that's water pollution!

After enjoying the fall foliage, bag your leaves for curbside pickup, or mulch them. But whatever you do, don't dump them in a storm drain or leave them on the sidewalk!

Mulched leaves make great fertilizer. But when they rot in our streams, that's water pollution!