What You Do Comes Back To You

If it’s in the Water, it’s in Us! The health of our waters is directly connected to how you use your own backyard, streets, and neighborhood. Anything poured into a gutter or a storm drain, such as trash, used motor oil or antifreeze, is not removed by a treatment process and flows directly to the receiving water, usually via neighborhood storm sewer systems. What is storm water? Storm water is water from rain or snow that seeps into the ground or drains into storm sewers/storm drains. These are the drains that you see at street corners or at low points on the sides of your streets. Pollutants that storm water carries are a concern for keeping the all our waters clean.

Trash enters storm drains that flow untreated into lakes, streams and rivers.

Where does the storm water go after it drains into a storm drain?

Storm water that does not seep into the ground, called storm water runoff, drains into systems of underground pipes or roadside ditches and may travel a long distance before being released into rivers, streams or ditches.

What are common contributors to storm water pollution?

Used oil and grease, gas, antifreeze, paint, pesticides, solvents, detergents, soil particles and sediment, excess nutrients, pet waste, pavement wash offs, trash, yard waste, and wash water.

How can plants help?

Grasses, trees and shrubs can filter pollutants from the water and create buffers to hold back pollutants; and plants native to the local ecological area require the use of less water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which could pollute our waters. Grassed swales planted with native species can serve as a natural drain that helps infiltrate and filter water.

What can YOU do to prevent pollutants from entering Illinois’ water sources?

The following are steps you can take to help keep our waters clean at residential, industrial and construction sites.

Residential Areas

• Use plants native to the ecological area because they require less water, fertilizer and pesticides, and can absorb pollutants from storm water.
• Compost yard waste and use them for fertilizer around the yard.
• Recycle used oil in a clean, sealed, plastic container. Vehicle fluids such as oil, gas and antifreeze can cause significant surface water quality problems nationwide.
• Deliver old paint, pesticides, solvents and batteries to a local hazardous waste drop off facility.
• Clean up after your pet. Pet waste left on the ground gets carried away by storm water, contributing harmful parasites to our waterways.
• SWEEP your pavement! Hosing off pavements washes pollutants into storm drains leading straight to rivers.
• Have downspouts empty onto vegetated areas, a rain garden or a rain barrel.
• Cover trash bins to prevent litter such as styrofoam, plastic and paper from blowing into inlets; and do not litter.

Industrial Sites

• Use plants to filter pollutants so they don’t enter the groundwater, to create buffers to contain pollutants, and to leech out toxins that have spilled into the soil.
• Wash vehicles or equipment in wash bays hooked up to a sanitary sewer (a sewer that leads to a treatment facility).
• Divert rainfall runoff from fueling-islands as well as outdoor storage and waste areas by building a canopy over them.
• Discharge waste such as detergents, oil, and grease as well as processed water of any type to a sanitary sewer. Wastewater is a huge contributor to pollution in many communities.
• Reduce smokestack emissions that enter the air and come back to the ground in rainwater.
• Be prepared: create a spill prevention plan, make sure all employees know spill cleanup procedures, have cleanup materials nearby.
• Contain and clean up spills immediately. Follow all reporting requirements for oil and other hazardous waste spills.

Construction Sites

• Use plants to create filter strips that hold back loose soil and keep it from getting into street gutters where rainwater washes it into storm drains. Erosion from construction sites contributes to environmental degradation that clogs fish gills, damages fish habitat and blocks the light needed for aquatic plants to survive.
• Dispose of wash water from concrete mixers at the contractor’s site, into a large hole big enough to contain it or use a geotextile containment system. Never allow waste water to enter street gutters or storm drains.
• Cover used oils, solvents and other hazardous fluids with secondary containment, both in case of a spill and to prevent rainfall from contact, which would wash hazardous fluids into nearby waterways.
• Maintain a "dry site" by using off site facilities to conduct vehicle and equipment maintenance such as changing oil and other fluids, and perform work in designated areas only.
• Stabilize construction site entrances with stone and use other BMPs as appropriate.

To help educate others, citizens voluntarily label storm drains to discourage dumping of pollutants into water supplies.

For More Information on Solving Water Pollution Problems Using Plants…

USDA NRCS National Plant Materials Center
http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov

NRCS in Illinois
http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov

E-FOTG
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Technical/efotg/

Illinois Urban Manual
http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/engineer/urban/

Native Plant Guide - Streams & Storm Water Facilities
http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/plants/npg/index.html

NRCS - Helping People Help the Land
USDA NRCS is an equal opportunity employer and provider

March 2006

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

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What You Do Comes Back To You Brochure (WORD, 2.4 MB)

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