Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The majority of water we use every day comes from rivers. The Catawba River alone provides clean water to more than a million people.
But the river also acts as a catch basin for untreated water that runs off the land through storm drains and creeks. More than 3,000 square miles of land drain into the Catawba. All of that land makes up the Catawba watershed and the health of the watershed is directly influenced by us all.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services educates schools throughout the year. A model of a fictitious town brings the point home.
When there are leaves, litter, pet droppings, fertilizers and oil on the ground -- that eventually is carried down the storm drain when we get rain.
Our water isn't treated. Whatever goes down the storm drain goes directly into our creeks and streams.
Pollutants can harm aquatic life and potentially the water we drink. Remember, water is a precious resource we can't live without.
