Keep Our Rivers Clean this Fall

Nothing beats a fall afternoon with smells of pumpkin pie or apple cider and the sound of crunching leaves beneath your feet. There are many reasons to be outside, but mowing the lawn isn’t usually one of them. Have you ever thought about the beneficial ways you can use leaves once they’ve turned and dropped from the trees? Do you find yourself blowing them into your neighbor’s yard or the street? I’m here to help you understand how leaf litter and other pollutants oftentimes end up in our waterways and harm the environment.

We get our fair share of rain in the fall, and stormwater tends to pick up everything in its path on the way to the storm drain. Since stormwater feeds directly into the nearest river or lake, it’s no wonder we’re concerned about picking up leaves. Once they find their way into a body of water, bacteria and organisms break them down into a nutrient-rich soup that adds phosphorus to the water. Phosphorus feeds the algae that creates the “green slime” you sometimes see in our rivers and lakes. Even just five bags of leaves contain about one pound of phosphorus, and that can grow into 1,000 pounds of algae. Now THAT is spooky.

You might be wondering what you can do to help. Luckily this is a problem with a few relatively simple solutions. Shredded leaves are this season’s most abundant crop and can provide many nutrients to the soil in your garden bed. If you don’t have a garden, you can rake, bag, and deliver them to a municipal compost site for others to use. These compost sites are a great community resource, both for folks looking to dispose of yard waste and those looking to complement their garden soil!

But leaf litter isn’t the only concern when it comes to storm drains. Oftentimes items like oil, paint, antifreeze, fertilizers, and other pollutants drift into our waterways because they weren’t disposed of properly. If you’re working on a vehicle and something spills, try to clean it up right away. Consider washing your vehicle on the lawn to keep soap from washing down the storm drain and look for phosphate- and chlorine-free soap. Check your city or county website for more information about the proper disposal of household chemicals in your community.

If we each do a little, we can all do a lot to keep our rivers clean this fall!