The Problem!

Rain water and snowmelt flows down the street into the catch basins and flowage ways; it then flows to a pond, wetland, stream, or sometimes it runs directly into our lakes and rivers.

This runoff water washes all kinds of contaminants. Such as grass clippings, fertilizer, pesticides, paint thinner, oil and antifreeze dripping from your car, exhaust particles, sediment, and a host of other unhealthy things directly into our streams and lakes.

Lakes and ponds turn green in the summer due to contaminated runoff. Phosphorus develops algae and other aquatic plant life (the green stuff shows up in the water on your beach). One pound of phosphorus grows five hundred pounds of green weeds.

The runoff also enters into our wetlands, and ultimately percolates down into aquifers. Contaminants leach down into that aquifer with the runoff. Most cities have wells that draw from these aquifers for our drinking water.