Dr. Karen Bell

Keep Liberty Beautiful

Walking down the street, you may not think about how important it is to keep the storm drain clear. You only see a hole in the ground, but it is crucial for several reasons, according to Only Rain Down The Drain: The Importance of Keeping Storm Drains Clean, an article I read online.

The article pointed out that clear storm drains help prevent floods in the street. Blocked storm drains can lead to water backing up onto streets, causing flooding that can damage homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. Clear drains help protect our environment. Properly functioning storm drains prevent pollutants from entering natural waterways, thereby protecting local ecosystems. Clear storm drains reduce the risk of accidents caused by water accumulation on roads, ensuring safer travel conditions.

Storm drains are a vital component of urban infrastructure, ensuring that rainwater is efficiently directed away from streets and properties to prevent flooding and other water-related issues. That is why cleaning up neighborhoods, roads, and parks is so important. Our next event is a cleanup for Your State Parks Day on Saturday, September 27, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Join us by assisting with sprucing up the Fort Morris Historic Site. To sign up, go to our website: www.keeplibertybeautiful. org. You can also contact KLB at (912) 880-4888 or email us at klcb@libertycountyga. gov. Cleaning up litter on roadways before it rains helps prevent stormwater pollution. Stormwater pollution starts with rainwater flowing over the ground. Stormwater that does not soak into the ground becomes surface runoff. Solid surfaces, such as driveways, sidewalks, and streets, prevent the rainwater from quickly soaking into the ground. This runoff becomes polluted along roads, parking lots, roofs, commercial areas, lawns, and farms.

As the water flows along, it picks up anything in its path, like pollutants such as automotive fluids, fertilizers and pesticides, bacteria, sediments, litter, and pet waste.

Here are 10 easy tips you can use to prevent stormwater runoff pollution:

 1. Never dump anything down storm drains or in ditches - Many people wrongly think that storm drains are part of a sanitary sewer system that flows to a wastewater treatment plant. Storm drains directly link to local streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

2. Pick up after your pet - Pet waste left on streets, sidewalks, yards, or trails near streams can easily wash into area creeks and streams. Pet waste can add harmful bacteria to our water

that can make the water unsafe to swim or play in.

3. Check your car for leaking fluids and recycle your motor oil - Improper disposal of used oil, which includes oil leaking from cars, contributes significantly to stormwater pollution.

4. Don’t litter! Pick up trash you see on the ground (even if it is not yours) and participate in a creek or watershed clean-up! Liberty County, our Rivers Alive Cleanup is October 25! 5. Use fertilizers sparingly and sweep driveways and sidewalks after application - Use fertilizers according to your lawn and plant needs and the labeled instructions.

6. Compost yard waste and sweep grass clippings out of street gutters after mowing. Most people don’t think of grass clippings and leaves as possible pollutants, but they can when they end up in waterways through our storm drain system.

7. Direct downspouts away from paved surfaces and slow water down When rain falls on a roof, its momentum increases and gives it more power to wash pollutants into storm drains. By diverting your gutter downspouts to grassy areas, runoff can be slowed and allowed to soak into the soil.

8. Wash your car at a commercial car wash that is plumbed to a treatment plant instead of washing your car on a driveway or street. When you wash your car on the driveway or road, the dirt, grease, and soap can wash into storm drains directly to creeks and streams. If you wash your car at home, do it in grassy or gravel areas that can absorb the water without it flowing into the street.

9. Use integrated pest management practices for controlling pests around your home - Use pesticides cautiously.

10. Vegetate bare spots in your yard and terrace slopes to minimize erosion - Cover bare areas in your yard with mulch or vegetation. Leaving bare soil in your landscape can cause exposed soil to wash away during rain.

These tips can help save our waterways. To find ways to make a difference, check out our website, www.keeplibertybeautiful. org.