From Streets To Streams – Adopt-a-Drain & Help Protect Our Water

As I was raking my yard over the past couple of weeks, I remembered how important it is to get leaves off of the street so they don't end up in our storm drains. The leaves were thick; and at least for my stretch of road, they were bagged up and taken away to a compost site.

Unfortunately, as I looked down my street, I didn't see that very many people thought about raking up the leaves that were in the road, and I also didn't see any city vehicles coming through to clean up the debris, which meant all of those leaves could easily be washed down the storm drains, clogging them up and eventually contaminating our water supply.

YOU CAN ADOPT A STORM DRAIN

Adopt-A-Drain is a program where community members can adopt storm drains in their neighborhoods. I've adopted four drains in the past and this is a pretty easy task. It takes about 15 minutes per drain that you adopt. By volunteering you mostly keep your adopted drain clear of leaves, trash, grass, and other debris to help reduce water pollution. Right now would be a great time to adopt those drains, as keeping all those leaves out of the drains can really help our ecosystem.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE STORM DRAINS

You never really think of how important they are. Storm drains in our communities lead directly to local lakes and rivers, as well as wetlands. They also, unfortunately, not only flush away debris and extra water; they can also collect trash on our roadways and organic pollutants.

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15 MINUTES CAN BE LIFE-CHANGING TO AQUATIC LIFE

You would be surprised at how much debris can build up over time. I believe I spent about 15 minutes every three months cleaning up the four drains in my neighborhood, and you can make this a fun family activity; teaching your kids the importance of taking care of our environment by completing this simple task.

TRACK THE IMPACT YOU ARE MAKING

You can track the impact you're making. Fill up your bag with the trash that you've collected. Weigh it on your scale, and then put all the information about the weight of garbage you collected; you can even break it down to what type of debris you picked up; was it twigs? Was it garbage? Was it rocks? Enter this information into your online account so Adop-A-Drain can gauge the cumulative results of everyone's efforts.

ADOPT A DRAIN TIPS

It's fun to see the difference we are making in our community.

These are just a few tips that Adopt-A-Drain has for you. They are:

• Trash clogs drains and pipes causing flooding. By you picking it up and putting in the garbage, it doesn't go into our lakes causing added and unnecessary pollution.
• Doggy doo doo carries harmful bacteria and phosphorus. Please pick up after your pet...and thank you.
• Leaves, grass, and dirt contain phosphorus, which feeds the algae that turn lakes green. keep them off streets and sidewalks by adopting a drain or two, and doing your part.
• Salt...Salt is bad and harmful to waterways and aquatic life. Just think about it. One teaspoon of salt can pollute five gallons of water forever. There's no turning back. Please help wildlife. Sweep up leftover salt and re-use it.

ARE YOU READY TO ADOPT?

If you and your family would like to adopt a drain, you can click HERE now and choose a drain close to your home.