Only Let Rain Down The Drain!

Help Keep Our Lagoon Healthy

CONTRIBUTING WRITER: Zachary Eichholz, Assistant to the Community Services Director

Only let rain down the drain! Stormwater drains, the drains you see on the sides of roads and parking lots, are a vital piece of City infrastructure that are responsible for helping to prevent flooding. Because road surfaces are impermeable, meaning water cannot flow through them, rainwater has no place to go when it falls. Stormwater drains help to collect this water and safely divert it away from populated areas. From here the water flows into grassy swales, stormwater ponds, or the Indian River Lagoon.

As is the case with stormwater drains across the country, water flowing into them is untreated. This is why we must all do our part and make sure that only rain flows down the drain!

City Staff have begun placing medallions on each of the City’s newly rebuilt concrete storm drain embankments that serve as a reminder to residents and visitors to not dump harmful substances such as hazardous waste, cleaners, vehicle fluids, medications, litter, or even yard waste into the City’s stormwater system.

Useful tips include:

• Checking your vehicle for fluid leaks

• Blowing grass clippings back onto your lawn

• Composting yard waste

• Reducing or eliminating use of fertilizers or moving to naturally-based ones (the City uses Green Gobbler)

The City especially encourages residents and visitors to follow this last point. Synthetic fertilizers have been linked to dangerous algae blooms in the lagoon. It is important to remember Brevard County’s annual fertilizer ban, which runs from June 1st to September 30th. The ban restricts the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen and/ or phosphorus applied to turf, landscape plants or to saturated soils.

For more information on lawn and garden care visit http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/brevard/lawn-and-garden/ and to learn about the City’s Illicit Discharge Ordinance (IDO) visit https://bit.ly/2EpfPeT