• Properly use and dispose of motor oil and hazardous waste.
• Keep litter, soils, yard waste and hazardous materials out of the street and out of storm sewers.
• Sweep up debris from sidewalks and driveways instead of washing it into the street.
• Minimize chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.
• Pick up and properly dispose of pet waste.
• Use native plants in your landscaping. They require little mowing, watering or fertilizers. They provide wildlife habitat. Their deep roots increase rain water infiltration, decreasing runoff.
• If you wash you car at home, do it on the grass where dirty water can inflitrate into the soil, instead of washing into the street.

EPA's Watershed Academy offers a free, updated online watershed outreach training module: "Getting in step: A guide to conducting watershed outreach campaigns". This module is based on the same title, free, downloadable outreach guide.

WHAT GETS TO THE STREET
GETS TO THE CREEK!

• US EPA Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox - contains a variety of resources to help develop an effective and targeted outreach campaign.
• Why use a Rain Barrel? (pdf)
• Rain Garden Manual (pdf)
• Lakescaping Guide (in PDF format)
• Best Management Practices (BMPs) in your Backyard (in PDF format)
• Do I Live in a Storm Sewer Riparian Zone?(highlighting City of Kalamazoo neighborhoods, in HTML format)
• Storm Sewer Riparian Education (in PDF format, size = 5.7 MB)
• Homeowners Guide to Nonpoint Source Pollution (pdf)
• Household Chemicals and You (pdf)
• Educational Web Links
• Overview of Michigan Water Quality Curriculum Unit - Middle School Science and Social Studies (pdf)

Back to top