BRIEF: Volunteers Marking Town’s Storm Drains

By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Jul. 24–CHAPEL HILL — Volunteers with Chapel Hill’s Stormwater Management Division are visiting neighborhoods, marking storm drains and giving residents door hangers with tips to prevent water pollution.

Anything put in a storm drain goes directly, untreated, into the nearest waterway. Only rain should go down the drain, but even it can wash pollutants such as fertilizers, detergents, pet waste, motor oil, heavy metals, sediment, leaves and litter into creeks.

The town’s Stormwater Management Division asks people to call 969-7246 to report illicit discharges into storm drains or erosion that sends sediment into storm drains or waterways. Because of such reports, Chapel Hill staff, county erosion control officers and environmental health inspectors have been able to respond and correct situations that otherwise would lead to pollution.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

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