Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution Control Program

Look What You Can Do

Photo of North Sacramento youth demonstrating ecological auto washing on a vegetated gravel driveway. (click on image to enlarge)

How You Can Help Reduce Water Pollution Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible Fact Sheets At Home At School At Work In the Community At Play and Recreation More Ideas...

Water Pollution Prevention Fact Sheet

• Vehicle Maintenance
• Boating and Marinas
• Landscaping and Yard Maintenance
• While Recreating and Attending Outdoor Events...
• Use Less Toxic Cleaning Substitutes...

And, For More General Water Pollution Prevention Information:

At Home

• Liquid Wastes: Never put anything but clean water into a gutter, open drainage ditch, or down a storm drain. These all lead to our rivers, creeks, lakes, and ocean, with no water quality treatment along the way.
• Pesticides: For household and backyard pest control, try alternative pest control measures. They are both less expensive and less harmful to the environment. To learn how, use these Websites:
  • University of California, Davis - How to Manage Pests
  • University of California, Davis - Pesticides and Water Quality
    
    
  Fertilizers: Instead of chemical fertilizers, try using compost. You can make your own from kitchen and yard waste. (See No. 3 Below).
  
  To safely dispose of pesticides and other toxic substances, use Household Hazardous Waste Collection Programs. To locate one in your area, visit the Earth911 Website.
  
  Above all, apply no pesticides or fertilizers when rain is expected.
• Yard Clippings/Food Waste: Compost your yard and kitchen waste - get more information.
• Animal Wastes: Always pick up animal wastes and dispose of them properly. Use plastic bags for animal wastes while walking your animal. Also, please clean up after your cats, and dispose of their wastes properly, too.
• Car Washes: When washing vehicles and other equipment outdoors, try to confine all cleaning materials to a bucket. Following the cleaning, dump this wash or rinse water down inside drains such as your kitchen sink or toilet. These drains lead to wastewater treatment plants, whereas the street outside your house almost always leads directly to local creeks, rivers, lakes, and/or the ocean.
• Car Maintenance: Always recycle used motor oil. Never dump motor oil down a storm drain, in a gutter, or on any roadside areas. Get information on your nearest used motor oil collection center.
• Household Cleaning: Use nontoxic cleaning alternatives - get more information.
• Reduce, Refuse*, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible.

* Please, whenever possible; decline to buy or accept any unneeded items and/or materials.

At School

• As a class project, see if the above guidelines (for in and around your home) are being followed by the school groundskeepers and custodians.
• Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible.

At Work

• Limit use of cleaning materials and pesticides in and around your workplace. See the first section for 'how to' instructions.
• Limit use of chemical fertilizers in landscape maintenance. See the first section for "how to" instructions.
• Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible.

In the Community

• Join in natural park, creek, river, and beach cleanups.
• Support public policies that discourage dumping in and around your community (e.g., toxic waste pick up events, organized community cleanups, used tire bounties and pickups).
• Let your City Council members, Board of Supervisors members, and legislative representatives know of your concerns and values.
• Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible.

At Play and Recreation

• Put your litter into trash or recycle cans, and clean up after people who don't.
• Camp away from the edge of a river, stream, or lake.
• Use sanitary facilities when provided.
• Increase the healthy exercise you can get by using human powered recreational boats (canoes, kayaks, rowboats, rafts and paddles), bicycles, skates, and other non-motorized transportation and/or sports equipment. Reducing motorized emissions reduces water pollution as well as air pollution.
• Carpool to events (rain and gravity eventually cause air pollution to become water pollution), or use mass transit whenever possible, and emphasize local sites to reduce travel distances when you need to use a private vehicle.
• Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, and Recycle Materials Whenever Possible.

More Ideas!

• How to Reduce Polluted Runoff
• Make a Difference in Your Watershed
• Top Ten Watershed Lessons Learned
• Things You Can Do (and What Not To Do) at Home to Reduce Water Pollution
• Preventing Water Pollution While Boating
• How to Minimize Your Impact on Wild Lands
• Use Less Toxic Cleaning Substitutes in Your Household, Business, Church, School, and Community Group
• Visit the Preventing Polluted Runoff (Nonpoint Source) Website provided by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

(Updated 12/21/09)