Three Ways to Help Your Communities Water Supply
Written by AOS Treatment Solutions on September 29, 2017
Water is vital to life, but most of the time people see their water supply as a dependable resource that magically drips from the kitchen sink. Help improve your communities water supply by first knowing where the water supply comes from and how to protect it.
One major factor is stormwater run-off. Stormwater run-off is precipitation in the form of rain and snow that flows over the ground. In ideal conditions, this water would be soaked up by the land, and the watershed would provide clean water to local rivers and creeks. But much of the time, polluted run-off flows over impenetrable surfaces, like roads, driveways and parking lots, and down into the storm sewers. (This is not to be confused with sanitary sewers that move waste to treatment plants.) Many times, this stormwater run-off moves into the fresh water supply without treatment. It picks up chemicals, oil, gasoline, pesticides and other pollutants that can harm the water supply and kill fish and other marine life. It also can carry pathogens that can contaminate the drinking water. These tiny organisms can cause disease and vomiting and diarrhea.
There are lots of factors to keep your community’s water supply clean and drinkable. Below are three practical and helpful ways to help your local water supply, so you can conserve and preserve this precious resource.
Keep It Clean
Don’t throw things in the storm drain! It is not a trash can. It is a myth that the storm drains lead to filtering treatment plants. That trash will flow down pipes into streams and ends up in your water supply. This pollutes the water supply and the natural habitats for many animals, including fish and other marine life. Keep stormwater run-off as clean as possible. Fix cars’ oil and antifreeze leaks right away. The next rain could wash those chemicals down the storm drain and into the drinking supply. Park cars on grass to wash so cleaning products and chemicals don’t run down the storm drain.
Conserve and Preserve
Do your part to conserve water in your home. A unique way to help your community’s water supply is to plant a rain garden. This garden contains specific plants that absorb and trap water and help decrease erosion, too. Use a rain barrel to collect water for landscaping and vegetable gardens to conserve water. This also collects run-offs from roofs and alleviates storm run-off. There are several DIY plans online to make your own. An added bonus is that it saves you money. For every inch of rain, an average 500-square-foot roof can collect 300 gallons of water. Volunteer with your city’s cleanup team and pick up litter and other debris from your local bodies of water. Seeing the actual streams and creeks where you receive your water from makes an impact. Keep it clean and beautiful.
Reduce Flooding
People can help and reduce the risk of flooding by building semi-permeable driveways and parking lots. This lets the ground absorb the water and replenish groundwater supplies and controls the volume of water that heads down the storm drains. This natural absorption helps not to overwhelm the local infrastructure and local water outlets with high water volumes in a short amount of time.
Be a water conservation activist in your area and help protect this precious natural resource.