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Waste "Away"?
When we wash something down a sink or flush it down a toilet, it seems to go magically away. But where is “away”? For most of us, the water carries it through pipes to a wastewater treatment center. There, the bad stuff is removed and the clean water flows out to a waterway such as river, lake, or sea.
What about stuff that washes down a storm drain on the street? Rainwater carries that “away” through pipes too. But usually the water goes straight into a waterway, without getting cleaned up first. Uh-oh!
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Investigate: Take a walk and find the storm drains along street curbs in your neighborhood. Look in the street, driveways, and yards for signs of things that might get washed down them: litter, oil that has leaked from cars, soap and road grime from car-washing, lawn and garden chemicals, pet poop. All these things can pollute your local waterways when they end up there from many, many neighborhoods like yours.
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Activate: Let your family and friends know that anything on the ground can end up in a waterway to harm the wildlife that lives there. List some ways to keep your neighborhood from being a water-polluter, and then take action! For example:
Keep cars in good repair so they don’t leak oil or antifreeze.
If you change your car’s motor oil, clean up all spills and be sure to recycle the used oil. Have a grownup call a local agency that deals with used oil and other hazardous wastes. For state info, visit www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/stateweb.htm
Park cars on a lawn to wash them. (The lawn absorbs the dirty, soapy water and keeps it from washing directly into a storm drain.)
Use sand on icy sidewalks and driveways instead of salt.
Pick up pet poop.
Grow plants in your garden that don’t need pesticides. Go to www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/nativeplants.cfm for more information on growing native plants.
Use only organic fertilizers on your lawn and garden--and only if necessary.
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Special Projects:
Adopt a storm drain to protect. Have a grownup check with your local city or county public works department. It may have a program that allows you to stencil a warning sign on a curbside storm drain in your neighborhood. You can also get your class involved. Have your teacher visit these Web sites for more information on how to make your schoolyard wildlife-friendly and how to start a storm drain stenciling project: www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats and www.earthwater-stencils.com
With your family, create an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat. This will help you cut back on the size of your lawn and on your use of chemicals (www.nwf.org/getgreen/home_lawn.cfm).
Plan a neighborhood litter-pickup day and invite friends to join in. If there’s a stream nearby, clean that up too.
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| Tune in next month for a new Habitat Explorer activity and more outdoor fun! |
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