Dump No Waste—Drains to Stream

Have you seen this message on storm drains in your neighborhood? Armed with educational handouts, trash bags, paint and stencils, volunteers in nearly a dozen Fairfax County communities will remind their neighbors this spring that dumping in storm drains is harmful to our streams, lakes, rivers, and the Bay.

NVSWCD coordinates storm drain stenciling as part of its nonpoint source pollution education program. Water pollution is defined as point source or nonpoint source. A point source comes from a known source such as a factory that empties its wastewater directly into a stream or a hauler who abandons a load of old tires into a creek. One can “point” to the source.

Nonpoint source pollution is what is carried off the land by precipitation. In an urban area like ours, stormwater runoff typically goes to a storm drain which leads to a stream. Runoff in a residential neighborhood might pick up excess lawn fertilizer and pesticides, fast food litter, cigarette butts, automobile fluids, pet waste, and sediment. We can’t point to one source of pollution in the stream; it comes from many indirect sources.

Volunteer groups visit the district office to learn about the sources and impacts of water pollution. They take that information and create flyers to distribute to all the homes in the affected neighborhood. Then, they stencil Dump No Waste — Drains to Stream (or Lake or River or Bay) on storm water inlets in pre-approved areas. This program has proven to be an effective, low-cost method of educating large segments of the population about water quality problems.

NVSWCD is recruiting more volunteer groups to conduct stenciling projects. NVSWCD will provide the information and the stencils and assist the group in gaining a permit to stencil from the Virginia Department of Transportation. The group must provide the personnel to create and distribute the flyers and paint the drains. Groups that have participated in past projects include homeowner and civic associations, scouts, and environmental organizations.

For more information, call Andi Ceisler at 703-324-1423 or send her an email.