Do you want to know how to protect water quality, reduce pollution, attract desirable wildlife, and protect your streams? Do you want to learn about how you can be a friend to your local streams, the region's drinking water reservoirs and the Chesapeake Bay? "From My Backyard to Our Bay - A Homeowner's Guide to Improving our Environment and Drinking Water" (PDF) is a free booklet that offers homeowners practical advice and an environmental reference guide for more information and assistance. "It's important to realize that our everyday activities have a direct impact on the environment," said Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. "This guide offers hands-on information for environmentally sound ways to handle common issues around the home and yard." Intended primarily for rural and suburban homeowners, the booklet provides advice on maintaining healthy lawns, solving wet basements, conserving water, safeguarding your well, maintaining septic systems, reducing storm-water pollution, controlling erosion, disposing of household hazardous wastes, attracting desirable wildlife, and protecting streams. In addition, the publication offers an overview of community environmental issues including protection of the drinking water reservoirs and the Chesapeake Bay, introduces rural landowners to their agricultural neighbors, and provides an extensive listing of environmental resources and agencies that can provide assistance. The publication is a collaborative effort among the Baltimore County Soil Conservation District, the Baltimore County Office of the Maryland Cooperative Extension, and the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management. The following organizations contributed financial support: Chesapeake Bay Trust, Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit, Prettyboy Watershed Alliance, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Valleys Planning Council. To obtain copies of this information-packed booklet, call DEPRM's Watershed Management and Monitoring Section at 410-887-5683.  (Need PDF help?)
Revised June 12, 2009 | 
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