Easy steps to help Doan Brook
and other urban streams

• Clean walks and decks with a broom rather than a stream of water. This will save literally hundreds of gallons of water every time you clean. And it will keep the pollutants that have accumulated on these surfaces from washing into the catch basin.
• Don’t pour oil, engine fluids, cleaners, or household chemicals down catch basins or sinks. Recycle motor oil and household chemicals at approved facilities.
• Repair automobile leaks immediately.
• Use lawn and garden chemicals sparingly and wisely. Your garden may not even need to be fertilized, so do a soil test first. Organic fertilizers, such as mulch, composted manure, cottonseed meal, and blood meal can be applied if necessary. If you must use chemicals or fertilizer, check the weather forecast for rain so they don’t wash away. Keep fertilizers and pesticides off sidewalks and driveways.
• Select nontoxic, alternative pest control measures. If a pesticide is needed, apply it at the correct time and rate.
• Collect and compost yard waste, or simply leave grass clippings on the lawn.
• Select the tallest acceptable mowing height on your mower. Taller lawns will shade weeds and retain soil moisture.
• Select landscape plants that are well adapted to the local climate and have low maintenance, chemical and water requirements.
• Apply only enough irrigation water to satisfy plant needs. Never overwater after pesticide or fertilizer applications.
• Adjust sprinklers to avoid watering paved areas.
• Pick up after your pets!
• Don’t feed the ducks and geese. Ducks and geese can contribute significant loadings of bacteria to streams and lakes. Feeding encourages them to stay around.
• Wash your car on your grass instead of in your driveway and use non-phosphate soaps. Or take it to a car washing facility.
• Never use a catch basin to dispose of used water, cleaning solutions or anything else because the catch basins in the street take water, UNTREATED, directly to Doan Brook.
  

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Tips for helping urban streams
Helping Doan Brook
What is a watershed?
Steps to help urban streams
Reducing impervious surfaces
Rain barrels
Pet waste management
Car washing
Naturescaping
Integrated pest management

Back to main Watershed Planning