Oklahoma officials hope storm drain message sticks
BRYAN DEAN
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Published: July 11, 2009
As more than 200 competitors in the WWA Wakeboard Championships enjoy the Oklahoma River this weekend, city officials are confident the river is clean.
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Tips for keeping pollutants
out of stormwater
Don’t: Overfertilize your lawn or use fertilizer improperly. Rainwater carries fertilizer into creeks and rivers where it creates algae that sap the waters’ oxygen.
Instead: Use only as much fertilizer as you need and closely follow instructions for applying it to a lawn.
Don’t: Drain your pool into stormwater drains. The chemicals in a pool are dangerous for fish, frogs and local plants living in creeks and rivers.
Instead: Use pool water to water your lawn or drain it somewhere it won’t get into stormwater drains.
Don’t: Wash your car in the driveway. Cleaning chemicals that run into storm drains, like pool chemicals, are harmful to wildlife.
Instead: Wash your car at a car wash. Drains at a car wash filter harsh chemicals before they can make their way into stormwater.
Don’t: Dump motor oil or other hazardous waste into storm drains. It is extremely dangerous for wildlife and can carry a fine of up to $700.
Instead: Use the city’s household hazardous waste disposal facility at 1621 S Portland Ave. It’s free for city residents who bring a utility bill to show residency.
Source: City of Oklahoma City
But that could change quickly with a heavy dose of rain.
The river received negative publicity in May when some triathlon swimmers got sick because of high levels of bacteria, including E. coli.
There is little the city’s stormwater quality workers can do to stop bacteria levels from climbing when rainwater brings runoff, including waste from cattle and wildlife.
"It’s hard, because the river is kind of a living being and it changes constantly,” city spokeswoman
Kristy Yager said. "It’s impossible to control what happens.”
Concerns about the quality of the riverwater are twofold.
Yager said although city workers can’t do much to control bacteria levels right now, they have stepped up monitoring to see where the problems are coming from, which tributaries are the worst contaminators and when and why bacteria levels spike.
Where city workers and residents have more control is the overall ecological health of the river, which suffers from dumping into stormwater drains.
Yager said chemicals from yard fertilizer, car washing and even backyard pools drained into the street can have consequences.
"The illegal dumping kills fish, frogs, beneficial plants and generally harms the ecology,” Yager said.
Raymond Melton, the city’s environmental protection manager, said he talks to neighborhood groups often and finds most people believe stormwater is treated before it goes into local creeks that run into the city’s four drainage basins, one of which is the Oklahoma River.
In fact, stormwater isn’t treated. Only sewage goes through the city’s treatment plants.
The city responds to complaints when someone notices a neighbor dumping pool water, grass clippings or even motor oil into a storm drain.
Usually, city workers need only to talk to people to make them understand the problem.
They can issue fines of up to $700 if residents don’t respond to warnings, or if they are dumping harsher chemicals.
"Almost 100 percent of our cases are figured out before it comes to the judge,” Melton said.
Awareness helps, officials say
One way the city tries to educate residents is by putting stickers on drains warning about the dangers of dumping.
Melton said the city has tagged thousands of storm drains in the past 10 years.
Recently, the stickers have been updated to let people know where the runoff goes.
Stickers on downtown storm drains explain the water goes into the Oklahoma River.
"We used to just put out a little sticker that said please don’t dump,” Melton said.
"We decided to get a little more specific and say this goes to the river. I think that’s helped.”
City workers and neighborhood volunteers put out about 1,000 stickers a year, using a kit the city provides including rubber gloves and reflective vests, adhesive and instructions for putting the stickers on a drain.
Melton and Yager agree the education efforts, combined with a growing national awareness of environmental issues, is helping.
"I definitely think people are learning more about the cause and effect of pollution,” Yager said.
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