April showers can bring polluted stormwater runoff that’s harmful to May flowers, not to mention other vegetation and aquatic life in your community. When there are wet weather events like rain, thunderstorms, or floods, pollutants left on the ground or swept into storm drains will make their way into local water bodies and wreak environmental havoc. Although the weather is beyond control, everyone can reduce or eliminate the amount of pollution they personally add to our precious and limited water resources, and celebrating Earth Day is a great time to start.

Keeping everything but rain out of your storm drain is the first line of defense against water pollution. For example, when you sweep up and collect leaves, trash, and grass clippings for proper disposal--as opposed to pushing them down the storm drain-- you are sparing your local water bodies from algae blooms that thrive on such nutrients and end up choking the oxygen out of the water… not good news for fish.

Simple actions like picking up after your pets, using natural fertilizers, recycling motor oil, and disposing of household waste properly will all help reduce pollution by keeping it away from storm drains and out of the water that circulates through your local watershed and then around the world. We can all take stormwater personally, and help create a greener, cleaner water environment!