Enviro-Tips

We all have a part in causing water pollution and we can do something about it.

The way we choose to handle everyday tasks and activities in and around our homes can have a direct effect on water quality in our local streams, drinking water reservoirs and the Chesapeake Bay.

Once water is degraded, the clean-up is always difficult, time consuming, less than perfect, and expensive.

Here are some things we can do:

Inside our homes

• Be a smart buyer (buy bulk and biodegradable)
• Buy products having less packaging
• Reuse boxes, ribbons, string and gift wrapping
• Recycle paper, glass and plastic
• Read labels: Buy fewer toxins
• Use traps to catch pests
• Use a fly swatter
• Handpick insect pests and weeds
• Use fewer chemical pesticides
• Use a plunger and plumber's snake
• Use safer homemade cleaning recipes
• Be careful disposing of toxins
• Donate paint and solvents to non-profit groups
• Save toxins to turn in on hazardous waste day
• Recycle used oil and antifreeze
• Fuel up boat and fill gas cans carefully
• Use marine pump-out facilities
• Use your "1 and 1" recycling day
• Collect and flush pet waste (not kitty litter)

Outside our homes

• Reduce paved surfaces
• Reduce lawn cover
• Plant trees, shrubs, ground cover
• Plant drought tolerant and pest resistant native plant species
• Plant flower gardens
• Plant trees near streams
• Water deeply
• Direct sprinklers away from sidewalks and streets
• Wash your car on the grass
• Get a soil test
• Use less fertilizer
• Mulch bare spots
• Use a hand mower
• Mow grass to the proper height
• Try "grasscycling" and composting
• Try non-chemical ice control
• If you must use chemical ice control, use potassium chloride or calcium magnesium acetate

In the community

• Join a greening committee, plant shrubs and trees
• Plant gardens
• Create and maintain a community compost pile
• Organize a community stream clean-up
• Adopt the storm drain near your home...keep leaves, grass clippings,soil and trash away from the drain
• Get permission to paint a storm drain: "Chesapeake Bay Drainage" "Don't dump"

Share these good ideas with your family, neighbors, and friends!

Do you need more information?

• University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service
• Home and Garden Information Center - 1-800-342-2507
• Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management - 410-887-5683

Revised August 8, 2006