Stormwater

Simple things you can do to keep our water clean:

• Never dump anything down a storm drain or drainage ditch.  Storm drains dump straight into larger waterways.
• Never wash your driveway, instead sweep or use an outdoor vacuum.
• Insulate your hot water pipes so it will take less time for the water in the faucet to get hot, wasting less water
• Never litter, on our streets or on our waterways.
• If you wash your vehicle at home, do so on the lawn rather than on pavement.
• Clean up after your pet! Keep fecal coliform bacteria (like E.coli) out of our creeks!
• Use fertilizer and pesticide only when needed. (Read the labels!) The more fertilizer in a creek, the more the algae grows, which can severely lower the oxygen in the water, which stresses or kills fish.
• In low lying areas that collect water, plant a rain garden, or a collection of plants which love this bog-like type of environment!
• Elephant Ears, Black-eyed Susans, Asters, and Canna Lilies are some easy to grow plants that do well in bog-like conditions. A rain garden helps use that standing water, and keeps it on the ground where it can seep back into the ground, recharging our aquifer system.
• Water your lawn less often, but more deeply. This encourages a very strong root system, and makes your lawn need less watering over time
• Use drought tolerant or native plants in your landscaping. This method is called xeriscaping, and it requires a ton less effort to have a beautiful garden!

Find out more at cleanwatercampaign.com

Your Stormwater

Every year, you pay a stormwater utility fee along with your property taxes. We at City Hall use these funds to do a wide range of work dealing with this topic on the Right of Ways. From the Street Sweeping to keeping our watershed from being polluted from a variety of sources, Stormwater pays for it all. We also inspect and maintain the catch basins, and inspect detention ponds. The City doesn’t own any of the land used as detention facilities; they are located off the Right of Way, and the City has easements to access them for inspection.  Public Works can only maintain things that are on this narrow strip of land on which all of our public roads are located. Easements to Detention facilities are not Right of Way, and should still be maintained by the property owner. However, if water is coming from the Right of Way, we will do our best to fix problems before you know they’re there! If you have a stormwater complaint, call City Hall and we will be glad to assist you!