National Water Quality Month: How to Improve Water Quality
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Posted June 1, 2017
August is National Water Quality Awareness Month and so we’re sharing some of our best tips for improving the safety and quality of your water for your family and community.
Life depends on water. It affects all of our lives and relates to human rights, survival, geography, health, and sanitation. Although you may not think much about the quality of your water or how you might be contributing the the pollution of your local water systems, there is a lot you can do to improve the quality of your local and municipal water supply.
Top Tips for Water Quality Month:
Here’s our advice to homeowners on how to improve water quality and prevent water pollution:
1. Drain Management
There are many things that should be kept out of your drains, including harsh chemicals, grease, prescriptions, and other items, including:
- Medications
- Grease, oil, and fats
- Pool chemicals
- Pet waste and cat litter
- Paint
- Car fluids
- Pesticides and insecticides
- Harsh cleaners (consult EWG’s Cleaners Hall of Shame)
Not only should you be careful about what flows down your sinks, toilets, and bathtubs, but also be mindful of what ends up in your storm drains. Only storm water should go down storm drains. Unfortunately, due to the increasing urbanization of our cities and suburbs, less water is soaked into the earth and more of it is running off hard surfaces and carrying with it more and more pollutants.
There are many things that you can do to help reduce storm water runoff and avoiding polluting the municipal water supply:
- Point downspouts toward lawns, grass, gardens, or other containment areas.
- Increase the amount of porous areas around your home with soil, gardens, mulch, gravel, and other materials.
- Sweep your paved surfaces rather than hosing them down.
- Clean up oil spills and sweep debris off of your driveways and walkways.
- If you do have an oil leak somewhere, you can soak it up with kitty litter or baking soda and then dispose of it in the trash.
- Pick up pet waste, trash, and other material off of your property as soon as possible.
- Throw away trash and debris from your gutters, sidewalks, and other areas around the home before they end up getting washed away into your storm drains.
- Don’t litter. Trash on the streets finds eventually finds its way into our waterways.
- Clean out gutters and downspouts every 3 months. This will help prevent a myriad of problems.
- Take all of your paint, pesticides, cleaners, chemicals, and other items to your local Household Hazardous Waste site.
2. Proper Irrigation
Be careful not to overwater your lawn and gardens. The water could run into your storm drains, carrying with it harmful pesticides and fertilizers. To help prevent this undesired pollution, avoid using pesticides and when choosing fertilizer, make sure it is phosphorus-free.
One quick way to determine if your lawn needs watering or not is to step on the grass and see if it springs back up or not. If there are clear footprints and the grass remains flat, it’s time to water.
Click here to learn how much water your lawn needs and how to match your irrigation system to your lawn’s needs.
3. Water Treatment System
If you want peace of mind that the water you’re drinking is safe and free of harmful bacteria, it is highly recommended that you install a water filtration system. At Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical, we can walk you through all of your home water filtration options, including:
- Faucet Mounted Filters
- Under Counter Filters
- Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration
- Water Testing
Hiller can help you and your family not only learn which contaminants are really a risk in your home, but how to best deal with them on your budget.
Benefits of Whole-Home Water Filtration:
- Clean and clear water with no odor
- Extended lifespan of water-using appliances, fixtures, and pipes
- Elimination of heavy metals and scale buildup
- Savings from bottled water purchases
- Luxurious skin and hair
- Less need for cleaning and personal hygiene products
Another way you can help improve the water quality for your home and community is by weighing in on local elections and ordinances. Vote for candidates and proposals that help protect our water bodies and natural habitats.
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