Many of us look forward to the coming of spring after a long, cold winter. With the warmer weather of spring, residents find themselves preparing for the lawn care season. Please refer to the City's Yard Waste Disposal Guide for tips in disposing of brush, leaves and grass clippings. DO NOT sweep or wash your grass clippings into the street. These practices can add excessive nutrients to waterways that can lead to algae blooms which decrease the quality of water that we all enjoy.
Remember that over applying fertilizers and pesticides to
our lawns can allow those chemicals to be washed off of our lawns into storm
sewer systems. These systems ultimately lead to our streams, rivers and lakes.
We all want great looking lawns. However, do we want them at the expense of our
wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes?
Yard Maintenance Publications:
The fall brings with it falling leaves. Leaves can be raked into the curb for disposal. Pickup begins mid-October and continues until Thanksgiving, weather permitting. Leaves can also be taken to the compost disposal area. See the City's Yard Waste Disposal Guide below for more information. If this is a time when pick up is not available, please use one of the following alternatives.
| The City’s Yard Waste Disposal Guide |
Leaf Collection Publications:
| Leaves Tip Sheet |
| Managing Leaves & Yard Trimmings (UW Extension Publication) |
Note that it is destructive to the environment, as well as illegal, to dump any wastes into the storm sewer system. This includes, but is not limited to, used motor oil, gasoline, paints and other harmful chemicals. Ozaukee County has created a publication that addresses how to properly dispose of your household waste as well as a list of hazardous items that need to be disposed of properly. You can read about it here.
Pet Waste
Pet waste is also a problem that can affect storm sewer systems. People who have pets should be sure to properly dispose of pet waste. There are two ways you can help the storm sewer system when it comes to your pets. You can flush pet waste down the toilet, or you can bury it. Remember, always properly dispose of pet waste. Pet waste that enters a storm sewer system can negatively impact our local surface waters by increasing bacteria and by adding to unwanted plants and algae that diminish clear clean waters leaving them stagnant and sludge covered by the extra nutrients that are added by pet waste. Here is a link to a web page that can help you to better understand the affects of pet waste on surface water runoff.
Pet Waste and Water Quality (UW Extension Publication)
Related Web Site Links: