WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS
2025 Pledge to Protect Our Waterways
As we move into the new year, it’s natural to reflect on the year gone by and make resolutions for the year ahead. Kick off your new year by pledging to protect our waterways by preventing stormwater pollution! If we aren’t careful, litter and other harmful pollutants can flow into our storm drain system and go untreated into our streams, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Be the solution to pollution and help our waterways thrive!
Project Clean Water makes it easier for us to protect our waterways. Their “52 Ways to Love Your Water” that includes a 52-week pledge calendar guides you through small weekly actions that can lead to improved water quality and healthier communities. Actions center around three significant behaviors that can make a big difference – reducing pollution at the source, preventing runoff, and capturing water/reusing rainfall. Make your New Year’s resolution to take one simple action a week to show your love for our waterways.
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Reduce Pollution at the Source
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Participate in actions that reduce the source of pollution to decrease trash, pet waste, and harmful chemicals that enter our waterways. Trash, litter, yard waste, pet waste and household hazardous waste (automotive fluids, paints, garden chemicals), are key sources of pollution that can eventually make their way into our storm drain system. Properly disposing of waste in covered bins and taking household hazardous waste (HHW) to the appropriate HHW disposal facility are critical to preventing stormwater pollution. Other efforts include reducing use of fertilizers, pesticides, vehicle fluids, and pet detergents as well as the repair of leaking vehicles to ensure harmful chemicals are not washed into our storm drains. Waste reduction efforts like composting, recycling, reusing and repurposing items also help keep our water bodies clean. Check out weeks 29 (yard waste storage), 36 (large item disposal), and 43 (fats, oils and grease disposal) for other tips.
One significant action you can do outside of your home is to participate in local organized cleanups on dedicated days like Earth Day (April 22), Dirtiest Beach Day of the Year (July 5), Coastal Cleanup Day (September 20), and World Rivers Day (September 22). Or participate in your own neighborhood cleanup following these guidelines from Surfider San Diego, Coastkeeper San Diego, and I Love a Clean San Diego Adopt-A-Beach/Adopt-A-Canyon Program.
Prevent Runoff
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Participate in actions that will decrease irrigation runoff and over-irrigation to limit the amount of pollutants entering our waterways. Runoff from over-watering can pick up pollutants from our driveways and sidewalks sending them into our storm drain where they then flow untreated into our waterways. Some ideas to manage runoff include changing watering practices, adjusting sprinklers and watering schedules, altering your landscape to include low-water use native plants or grouping plants with similar watering needs, and washing your car on a permeable surface like your lawn to absorb water. For other ideas, check out weeks 14 (irrigation audit) and 49 (use of mulch in landscapes).
Capture Water/Reuse Rainfall
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Find ways to capture water to reduce the potential for polluted runoff to be carried into storm drains and harm our ocean and waterways. Using rain barrels to capture natural rainfall and redirecting gutters and downspouts to vegetated areas are great ways to store water to help nurture your garden. Building a rain garden with native plants in low or sloped areas of your yard can also help to catch rainwater runoff. Weeks 47, 48, and 49 provide actions to create a beautiful and sustainable water-saving landscape.
Stormwater Pollution Prevention
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Commit to learning about your local watershed, stormwater pollution prevention, and advocating for cleaner waterways. Visit a local creek, river, wetland, or tidepool to get an appreciation of nature, wildlife and the importance of water quality. Check out the County of San Diego’s Beach and Bay Program to increase your familiarity with this beach monitoring program focused on protecting the health of beachgoers from contaminated water. Pledge to take small weekly actions to make a big difference. And while you’re at it, bring along your neighbors, family, and friends on the “52 Ways to Love Your Water” Go even further by adopting a storm drain to keep it clear of debris (week 27) and reporting pollution if you see anything other than water in the curb, gutter, alley, or street (week 12).
The County wishes all its residents a very happy and pollution-free new year. For more stormwater pollution prevention tips and resources, follow Project Clean Water’s Facebook page and go to the County of San Diego’s Watershed Protection Program website.
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