Do Good
In an effort to make this all worthwhile, we will be donating the entire profits from every Love These Lakes item to the new Love These Lakes project.
We will be designing and producing storm drain stencils to implement throughout neighborhoods where storm drains lead directly into our lakes.
As you know, grass clippings, leaves, and litter in these drains go directly to the lakes. This causes “leaf stew”, blue-green algae, and litter floating around your kayak.
Here are preliminary stencil designs in the works. Please send any feedback!
We really really REALLY love our lakes and so we want to take care of them. If you'd like to do the same, here are some things you can do RIGHT NOW, courtesy of the Clean Lakes Alliance, to keep our lakes clear for generations to come:
Help our lakes from your home
We all live and work in a watershed. That means that our homes and yards impact our nearest lakes and streams – for better or worse. Here are some steps YOU can take to help keep our watershed healthy and flowing clean.
Rake for the lake
One of the best and easiest things you can do is to rake leaves from the street gutter in front of your home. Clean streets make for healthy lakes! Fall leaf litter is loaded with algae-loving phosphorus, and a fertile “tea” is released into storm sewers that connect to our lakes and streams every time it rains. Your leaves can be composted, mowed into the lawn, or used as a mulch to protect and nourish trees, shrubs and plants.
Create a rain garden
A rain garden is a small depression in your yard that collects and soaks up rainwater. Usually planted with beautiful wildflowers, rain gardens will add curb appeal to your home while attracting a variety of songbirds and butterflies. They also keep our lakes clean by giving rainwater a place to go as it washes off driveways, patios and rooftops.
Harvest rainwater
Connecting a rain barrel to your roof downspout allows you to collect, store and repurpose rainwater and save money on your water bill. Your plants will love the chlorine-free water, especially when soils dry up between storms. Many of today’s models connect directly to your downspout, are sealed (no mosquitos!), and allow water to re-divert back to the downspout once full (no overtopping!). Try to direct all your roof downspouts to either a rain barrel or rain garden.
Sink the rain with porous materials
Protect our lakes and streams by first limiting the “footprint” of hard, water-impervious surfaces around your home. If you’re considering a new patio or driveway, opt for porous pavers or water-permeable pavement as affordable and attractive alternatives to traditional concrete or asphalt. During the winter, work to limit your use of de-icing salt, which is damaging to cars, driveways and soils, and pollutes our lakes and groundwater.
Be aware of what you send down the drain
Conserving water in and around the home helps protect our drinking water aquifers AND our lakes. Less water use means less water softener salt entering the environment. Did you know that our community wastewater plant is not able to treat everything that is sent down the drain? This includes salt, medicines and even antibiotics, which can pass right through the treatment process and end up polluting our waters. The MedDrop program provides a safe way to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals.
Pick up after your pets
Picking up after your pets is the right thing to do to protect our waters from harmful pathogens and phosphorus. It’s also the law! Stormwater can carry dog feces easier and for longer distances than you might think. Not only will you be protecting our lakes, you will also be respecting your neighbors and the community by keeping our parks and neighborhoods clean.
- Reasons to pick up after your pet
- UW-Extension’s why and how of responsible pet ownership
- U.S. EPA Pet Waste Management
Use less salt on pavement
Did you know that chloride concentrations in our lakes has been increasing for decades? Given our icy winters, salting is an almost unavoidable practice for maintaining safety. However, using too much salt or in the wrong situations can be as wasteful as it is harmful. Targeted and conservative de-icing techniques are important for protecting our drinking wells and preventing toxicity to sensitive plants and animals.
Keep soil protected during land-disturbing projects
On a per-area basis, more sediment enters our lakes from construction sites than any other land use. If you’re planning a landscaping or building project, be sure to protect disturbed and exposed soils so sediment doesn’t wash into our storm drains, streams, and lakes.