Stormwater Education

Keep Our Creeks Clean: Clean up After Your Dog!

Think picking up dog poop is unpleasant? Try drinking it. Pet waste washes into our storm drains and pollutes our creeks and lakes. Dog poop is a major contributor to stormwater pollution. Rain and melting snow/ice flows across our yards, dog parks and trails on its way to creeks via our storm drains. Dog poop contains bacteria and is high in nitrogen and phosphorus, which are nutrients that negatively affect our waters. 

The Impact

Pets and wildlife are major sources of water contamination because their waste contains harmful bacteria and parasites. Dog feces can contain fecal coliform bacteria, which can spread diseases like Salmonella, Giardia, and Campylobacter, causing serious illness in humans.

You Can Make A Difference

Approximately 29,046 dogs live in Abilene. That many dogs creates a lot of waste!

Be a responsible pet owner. Be prepared. Carry bags with you to pick up pet waste. We know, It Happens! Just use one of your bags to scoop it, bag it and trash it.  Please put those bags in an available trash bin or wait to throw it away when you get home. Don’t forget to scoop the poop in your own yard. (Especially before it rains)

Keep Your Trails Clean and Safe

Picking up dog waste protects water quality, it also keeps our local trails clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.

*Source: 2017-2018 U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, Census.gov

These tips are from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to stay Septic-smart.

How to care for your septic system

Septic system maintenance is not complicated and it does not need to be expensive. Upkeep comes down to four key elements:

Inspect and Pump Frequently

• The average household septic system should be inspected at least every three years by a septic service professional. Household septic tanks are typically pumped every three to five years. Alternative systems with electrical float switches, pumps, or mechanical components should be inspected at least once a year.
• There are four major factors that will decide the frequency your septic system requires pumping: household size, total wastewater generated, volume of solid in wastewater and septic tank size.

Here’s what you need to know.

A septic service maintenance call will entail inspecting for leaks and examine the scum and sludge layers in your septic tank. The service provider should note repairs completed and the tank condition in your system’s service report. Be sure to keep a copy of all maintenance records.

Use Water Efficiently

The average single-family home uses nearly 70 gallons of indoor water per individual, per day. Just a single leaky or running toilet can waste as much as 200 gallons of water per day. All of the water a household uses gets sent directly to its septic system. The more water you conserve, the less that ends up in your septic system. There are some simple ways you can save water:  

• High-efficiency toilets. Toilet use accounts for up to 30% of all household water use. Older homes that have toilets with 3.5 to 5 gallon tank reservoirs should be replaced with high-efficiency models that use 1.6 gallons of water per flush.
• Washing Machines. Washing small loads of laundry on your machine’s large load cycle wastes a ton of water and electricity. Select the proper load size to reduce water use. When hooked up to a septic system, doing all your laundry in one day might seem like a time-saver but it can actually harm your system because it doesn’t allow the tank enough time to treat the waste water and could actually flood your drain field. Consider a high-efficiency washer or a washer with the ENERGY STAR label to cut down on water (50% less) and less energy (35% less).

Properly Dispose of Waste

Whether you flush it down the toilet, grind it in the garbage disposal, or pour it down the sink, shower or bath, everything that goes down your drains end up in your septic system. What goes down the drain affects how well your septic system works. Your septic system is not a trash can. Do not flush anything besides human waste and toilet paper. Never flush any of these items:

• Cooking grease or oil
• Flushable wipes
• Feminine hygiene products
• Condoms
• Dental floss
• Diapers
• Cigarette butts
• Coffee Grounds
• Cat Litter
• Paper towels
• Any kinds of medications
• Household chemicals

Your septic system is designed to contain a collection of organisms to digest and treat household waste. Pouring toxins down your drain can kill these organisms and harms your septic system.

Maintain Your Drain Field

Your drain field-a component of your septic system that removes contaminants from the liquid that emerges from your septic tank-is an important part of your septic system. NEVER park or drive on your drain field. Plant trees a good distance away from your drain field to keep roots from growing into your septic system. Keep roof drains, sump pumps, and other rainwater drainage systems away from your drain field area. Excess water slows down or stops the wastewater treatment process.

Each year, enough trash to fill 512 dump trucks is picked up along Abilene roadways; some trash can end up in our local waterways. When it rains, trash from roads and parking lots washes into storm drains that lead directly to creeks and which can be harmful to birds, fish, and other wildlife.

Here are some ways that you can help keep it clean around your home and community.

At Your Home

• Pick up any litter around your home, including the driveway, sidewalk, and gutter.
• Make sure that your trash and recycle cans lids are securely attached.
• Dispose products like paint, oil, electronics and other hazardous waste, properly. Visit City of Abilene’s Environmental Recycling Center for more information.

In Your Community

• Food and snack packaging make up 41% of collected litter. Bags, wrappers, cups, lids, etc. should be thrown away in a trash can with a sealable lid.
• Remember to use reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags from the store.
• Use a refillable drinking water bottle rather than purchasing bottled water in plastic.

At Your Work

• Put trash containers and cigarette butt receptacles at convenient locations used by employees and visitors, like entry/exit points or break areas.
• Check trash containment areas every day to make sure dumpster lids are closed.
• When hauling construction/landscaping materials or debris, make sure your load is securely covered when transporting.

Keep our creeks Clean. Properly maintain your lawn.

Lawn care, landscaping and pest control practices are major contributors to stormwater pollution. Rain or melting snow/ice flows across yards, rooftops, paved areas, picking up leaves, grass clippings, garden and lawn chemicals. This flows directly into the storm drain system.

Why Does It Matter?

Nutrients and other chemicals from yard waste can cause excessive algae growth and toxin production. Algae blooms can rob the organisms that live in our streams from the oxygen they need to survive, killing fish along the way, not to mention it makes water from the tap taste funky and that just ruins the taste of our sweet Texas tea.

You Can Make a Difference!

Lawn Care

• Don’t scalp your lawn when mowing. Leave your grass fairly long and within the City’s Code Compliance for grass height.
• Leave the grass blades on the lawn, bag and put in the garbage or compost them. Do not blow clippings into the gutter or street.
• Compost or throw away leaves and other organic matter instead of putting it in the street. Excessive leaves and organic material can contribute to high nutrient levels in the water.
• Enjoy the outdoors and hand pick your weeds. If you must spray, spot treat for weeds.

Fertilizing

• If the forecast calls for rain in the next two days, don’t fertilize. The rain will only wash the fertilizer off your lawn, down the gutter and into the storm drain.
• Fertilize only when necessary and be sure to follow the instructions. It goes against the Texas way of living which is, “If a little is good then more must be better.” It actually weakens your lawn and the excess runs off into the storm drain.
• Have your soil tested so you know exactly what nutrients are needed for your lawn - contact the Texas A&M Soil Testing Lab
• Use compost whenever possible it has many more benefits for your landscaping and improves the soil’s health.

Watering

• Direct downspouts from your home gutter system to depressed areas or garden/flower beds so that water soaks into your yard and doesn’t run into the street.
• You can water your lawn too much. Too much of anything is bad including watering your lawn. Excessive runoff wastes water and washes any fertilizer or nutrients you’ve added down the street into the storm drain.

Lawn Design Options

• Consider a rain garden and direct runoff from your roof to drain on the garden. Harvesting rainwater is best.
• Consider using porous materials (bricks, gravel, flagstone) for your sidewalks and driveways instead of impervious materials (concrete, asphalt).
• Add trees and shrubs to capture and hold rainwater before it can reach the ground.

Those soap suds are not clean!

Washing your car in a driveway or street means the dirty water flows untreated into the nearest storm drain and to the nearest creek and lake. This used water contains residue from gasoline, rust, motor oil, exhaust fumes (caked on your tail pipe). The soap you use may also contain phosphates, which can cause algae blooms in waterways.

Wash Your Car at a Car Wash

While it is not against the city’s ordinance to wash your car in your driveway, it is not good practice. Take your car to a commercial car wash where the wash water is directed to a treatment system and in most cases they recycle and reuse it. If you must was your car at home, do it on the lawn because it allows the water to be absorbed by the grass. This is an easy 2 for 1: Your car gets washed and your lawn gets watered at the same time.

Maintain your Vehicle

• Maintain your vehicle and repair any fluid leaks or spills immediately. Those drips on the pavement will be picked up with the next rain storm and washed into the nearest creek.
• Make plans to capture and clean up spills from your work area, if you work on your own vehicle.
• Recycle used vehicle fluids at the Environmental Recycling Center Product Exchange Program. NEVER hose down a spill.

How do I get rid of these chemicals?

We’ve all had to get rid of used motor oil, left over paint and solvents, and fertilizer. Please be sure to recycle or properly dispose of these items at the City’s Environmental Recycling Center. Taking them to the environmental center in town means you are keeping them from accidentally ending up in our waterways. Do NOT throw these materials in the trash. They end up in the landfill and leach into the ground and our groundwater supply.

What are some household hazardous waste items?

Household hazardous waste are products that contain hazardous chemicals and ingredients requiring special care. These are products that can catch fire, react when mixed with another chemical, are toxic or corrosive and can even explode under certain circumstances. Here is a list of just a few items that need to be disposed of correctly:

• Household cleaners              Laundry Products              Lawn & Garden Products
• Car Products/Used Oil          Paint thinners                    Fertilizers
• Fuel                                       Turpentine                         Insecticide/Pesticides
• Batteries                                Cooking Oil                       Mercury Thermometers
• Fluorescent tubes                  Paint/stains                       Pet products
• Pool chemicals

For more information on how and where to dispose of these items, call the Environmental Recycling Center at 325-672-2209.