Help keep water clean: Pick up pet waste, use less pesticide, fertilizer.
How do we make sure it stays healthy and safe?
It also protects our plentiful Northwest wildlife, including the salmon and the shellfish we eat.
When we monitor our waters, we look for bacteria, nutrients and other qualities important to health.
Human and animal waste, human activities, as well as pesticides and fertilizers can all affect water quality.
Limit the use of pesticides and fertilizers: Pesticides and fertilizers are easily washed off your lawn into lakes and streams.
For helpful advice visit the Thurston County Public Health Common Sense Gardening page, or keep an eye on the Thurston County WSU Extension’s Master Gardener program for events and classes: http://extension.wsu.edu/thurston/gardening or visit the new Grow Smart Grow Safe website at growsmartgrowsafe.org Use smart car washing practices: When cars are washed in the driveway or on the street, harmful soap and detergents drains into our waterways.
Keep your septic system in working order: Many houses depend on septic systems to treat and dispose of their wastewater, but failing systems can pollute our waterways.
You can see helpful videos at doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/WastewaterManagement/SepticSystem There are many ways to keep water healthy for your family to drink and safe to play around.
Water quality reports are available through Thurston County’s website.