 Cleaner Streams Grady Erickson City of Lincoln - Lancaster Health Department & Mandi Conway Watershed Management Division

Who We Are  Watershed Management Division  Manage stormwater  Reduce flood hazards  Improve water quality  Outreach & Education  Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department  Keep America Beautiful  Keep Lincoln-Lancaster County Beautiful  Work closely with other entities

What We Are Doing  Promoting and educating the importance of clean waterways  Help reduce Non-Point Source Pollution  Keep streams and lakes clean and beautiful  EPA has identified non-point source pollution to be the largest threat to the lakes, rivers, and streams of the United States  70% of all pollution

How Does This Effect Lincoln?  Storm drains don’t treat water for pollutants  Streams aren’t capable of protecting themselves against chemical and debris influx  Water quality directly affects the health of fish, birds, mammals and plants  5 streams in Lincoln don’t meet EPA standards

 Facts on Non-Point Source Pollution

Pet Waste  Illegally dumped down storm drains  Storm drains are NOT treated first so waste ends up directly in places such as Holmes Lake  Spreads bacteria, illnesses and parasites  Ex: E. Coli, cholera and tapeworm  EPA classifies pet waste as a dangerous pollutant in the same category as toxic chemicals and oil.  One dog can produce 274 lbs of waste annually  60 million dogs in U.S. = 16.4 billion lbs each year  36,358 dogs in Lincoln = 9.96 million lbs each year

Fertilizer  Too much fertilizer isn’t a good thing  Plants can only use so many nutrients  One pound of excess phosphorus in a lake can create pounds of algae  Algae blooms create hypoxic water  Low oxygen = Fish kills  N-P-K on bag, P should be 3 or less

Oil  Do-it-Yourself oil changes dump or spill more oil in a month than major tanker disasters  In the U.S. 200 Million Gallons of used motor oil is improperly disposed of, Annually  The BP Oil Spill and Exxon Valdez Disaster have released 211 Million Gallons. Those occurred 21 Years Apart  One quart of motor oil can contaminate 250,000 Gallons of drinking water  When poured into water, one quart of motor oil can form an oil slick covering 9,680 square yards (almost 2 football fields)

Debris  Eroding soils create sediment which can change the flow of streams and add unwanted nutrients and microorganisms  Sediment pollution causes $16 Billion in environmental damage annually.  Grass clippings, leaves and organic debris add excess nutrients to water  Trash can be appealing to many animals, they can become entangled or ingest them and suffer severe consequences

Our City  5 Streams in the Lincoln area do not meet EPA standards.  All streams and lakes impaired in some way  YOU CAN HELP!

What Will Cleaner Streams Volunteers Do?  Spend 2 – 3 hours picking up litter in and around a stream  Sample water for pH, oxygen, turbidity, and temperature  Learn about our lakes and streams!

Things You Will Do If You Join SWAP  Mark storm drains with “No Dumping: Drains to Creek” emblem  Survey conditions of storm drains  Help clean areas around storm drains and some waterways (i.e. neighborhoods)  Distribute door hangers to Homes in neighborhoods to educate families

 Only With a Strong Community Effort Can We Help Keep Our Waterways Clean and Healthy

We Need You!  Contact the Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator  Mandi Conway   (402)  Contact the SWAP Coordinator  Grady Erickson  or  Call (402)