In Madison, WI we are no stranger to our beaches being closed due to harmful algal blooms. Luckily, there are several easy steps homeowners can take to help protect our lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands and ensure that we will be able to enjoy them this summer!
1. Reduce your sidewalk salt use
What's the problem?
Excess sidewalk salt washes into our lakes, rivers, and wetlands and is toxic to aquatic life. Once salt is in the environment, it cannot be removed.
What's the solution?
If you spread your own sidewalk salt in the winter, follow the below steps for the most effective use of salt. Most importantly, make sure you remove as much snow and ice as possible before deciding to put any salt down, you may find that you don’t even need to use any salt! To ensure that the correct salting pattern is followed, consider purchasing a hand applicator to more evenly spread the salt. Does a contractor do all your snow removal and salting? If so, read your contract to ensure that they are not paid based on the amount of salt they use, which leads to over salting. You can also provide them with a handy print out showing the correct salting pattern if you’re seeing overuse.
2. Optimize your water softener
What's the Problem?
If you live in an area with hard water, you likely have a water softener in your basement. Salt is used in the softener to make the water more ‘soft.’ However, that salt is then washed into the sewer systems, causing similar problems to sidewalk salt. Additionally, this salt-laden water can also infiltrate into groundwater and then drinking water, and no one wants to drink salty water!
What's the solution?
Water softener optimization should be left up to the professionals! You can use this link to assess whether you should call a professional to optimize your softener. Some signs that may mean you need to upgrade is if your softener is older than 15 years or uses over a bag of salt a month.
3. Rake up your Leaves
What's the problem?
Leaves are one of the greatest sources of urban phosphorus pollution. When leaves are left in the street and eventually get washed down storm drains, they break down and release phosphorus into our lakes. Excess nutrients, like phosphorus, are responsible for algal blooms that make our lakes unusable.
What's the solution?
This one is easy! When you’re raking your leaves for pick up, make sure they are raked on top of your lawn or on the parkway, rather than raking them into the street where they will get washed away. If you want to utilize that valuable phosphorus, you could also compost or use the leaves as mulch for your garden.
4. Assess your fertilizer
What's the problem?
When too much fertilizer is used, it can get washed into our storm drains and then to our lakes and rivers. Those excess nutrients in fertilizers can cause algal blooms that are bad for aquatic life and recreation.
What's the solution?
It is best to apply fertilizer when the soil is moist and then water lightly. This will help the fertilizer move into the root zone where it is available to the plants, rather than stay on top of the soil where it can be blown or washed away.
Watch the weather. Avoid applying it immediately before a heavy rain system is predicted to arrive. Too much rain (or sprinkler water) will take the nutrients away from the lawn's root zone.
Use the minimal amount of fertilizer necessary and apply it in small, frequent applications. An application of 2 pounds of fertilizer five times per year is better than 5lbs of fertilizer twice a year.
Calibrate your fertilizer spreader to be sure you know exactly how much material is being discharged in a given space. Follow instructions accompanying your spreader.
5. Evaluate your storm water system
What’s the problem?
In all of these situations, we’ve encountered one main issue- things getting washed into lakes, rivers, and wetlands that shouldn't be there. Excess nutrients, salt, and pollutants are threats to aquatic live and our ability to enjoy our water resources.
What’s the solution?
A key way we can stop these various pollutants from washing away, is by assessing our home storm water system. This can be done in several ways, so here are the most popular:
Install a rain garden in areas that receive heavy rainfall, like at the bottom of a slope or underneath your roof. A rain garden will catch the runoff water and help it infiltrate into the ground, rather than washing into impermeable streets.
Install permeable pavers that will allow more infiltration rather than runoff.
Evaluate your gutter downspouts and make sure the runoff is being directed into an area for infiltration, rather than impermeable surfaces.
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