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Personal Pollution Checklist
Steve Tonn, UNL Douglas/Sarpy Extension Educator – Omaha Metro Area Lakes

When runoff water from overwatering your lawn, hosing off your driveway or rain fall and snow melt runs down the street, it picks up small amounts of chemicals and other pollutants from your lawn, driveway or street and washes them into the stormwater drain. In the Omaha metropolitan area, the stormwater runoff is not treated and runoff flows directly into the Papillion Creek System and metro area lakes such as Cunningham Lake, Zorinsky Lake, Standing Bear Lake, Lake Candlewood, Walnut Creek Lake and Carter Lake. Pollutants in this runoff can poison fish and other aquatic animals and make water unsafe for recreational uses.

What can you do to help protect lakes and creeks from polluted runoff? Start at home. Take a close look at practices around your house that might contribute to polluted runoff. The following is a checklist to help you and your family become part of the solution, instead of part of the problem.

Personal Pollution Checklist - click here -

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