Now's the time to keep waterways clean

Carrabelle Cares thanks all our hard-working volunteers for the hours of beach clean-up and monitoring the past month. We hope to have another dumpster at the Carrabelle City complex recycling area so we can continue our beach cleaning efforts. Bags are available at the Waterfronts office on Marine Street.

Now more than ever we need to clean up human-made litter from our gulf and bay beaches. This will help ensure that it will not get fouled with oil and become hazardous waste. We are monitoring our beaches to keep them clear of trash. Let’s remember that trash and polluted runoff from our streets washes up on our beaches.

The City of Carrabelle has storm drain markers to remind us that they drain directly to the river. Pollution in storm drain runoff can cause negative impacts to our river and bay ecosystems. The most common pollutants in stormwater that flows into our storm drains are trash (plastic bags, fast food wrappers, cigarette butts and Styrofoam cups) and toxins (from used motor oil, anti-freeze, fertilizer, pesticides, and pet waste). According to Keep America Beautiful, 18 percent of all littered items end up in waterways as pollution.

Deliberate littering is from motorists, from debris thrown out of car windows or left on the side of the road, and from pedestrians, due to individual littering of packaging, beverage containers, cigarettes butts, etc.)

Passive littering is from household trash at the curbside, due to leaving lids off trash cans, overflowing trash cans, or unbundled or covered paper that blows; dumpsters used by businesses that are overflowing, or trash let uncovered that invites blowing and spreading; loading docks whose high truck traffic contributes to litter; construction and demolition sites whose debris piles up or is blown by wind or carried by rain; and uncovered trucks, that contribute trash falling or blowing off moving and stationary vehicles.

The best way to reduce stormwater pollution is to stop it at its source. Let’s keep our storm drains clean and free of debris. Remember that trash and pollutants flushed down storm drains directly affect the quality of our river and bay and can end up on our beaches.

Here are some tips to help keep our waterways clean:

• Don’t work on your car in a place where oil and grease could be washed into street gutters. Used motor oil should be contained and taken to a collection center. Most automotive shops provide this service.
• Grass clippings should be bagged and disposed of with yard waste. Dumping grass clippings down a storm drain can slow storm water flow and clog the drains.
• Do not wash dirty paint brushes under an outdoor faucet. Chances are the dirty rinse water will flow into a storm drain and into our rivers. Water-based paints can be washed in the sink and oil based paint should be cleaned with a paint thinner, filtered out, wrapped in newspaper and discarded with the trash.
• Pet droppings should not be discarded into storm drains, left in the yard, or on the beach. Clean up pet droppings and dispose of them in trash bins.
• When washing your vehicle, park on grass or some other area that can absorb the runoff water. Washing your car on the street sends all the chemicals used to clean your car into a catch basin and directly into our water.
• Use pesticides sparingly and don’t fertilize right before it rains.
• Try to keep trash and other debris out of gutters and away from catch basins.

Lesley Cox is the volunteer coordinator for Carrabelle Cares, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing resources to the people of Carrabelle. To reach her, call 697-5555, or Tamara Allen at 524-1153.