Attention Residents of the Tred Avon Watershed
Special Programs Available Spring & Summer 2011

If you own a home in the Choptank watershed, here are some of the things you can do to protect and improve habitat and water quality.

LAWNS & LAWN CARE:

RANS & RUNOFF:

• Install rain barrells to capture rain from your roof for watering your landscape.
• Create a raingarden to reduce runoff from your landscape.
• Install permiable pavers for driveways and walkways to let rainwater infiltrate into the ground.
• If you have a sprinkler system, make sure you are watering only as much as needed, and that water is falling only on planting areas - not on streets, driveways, or other hard surfaces.

WATERFRONT HOMEOWNERS:

• Participate in the Marylanders Grow Oysters Program
• Install aeration systems on your pier to provide refuge for fish whe dissolved oxygen levels in the water are low.
• Maintain a buffer of native vegetation (trees, shrubs, grasses) to protect your waterway from polluted runoff.
• Read the Green Book For the Bay to learn more about living in the Bay's Critical Area.
• Replace bulkheads and riprap with vegetated shorelines to reduce nutrients and provide habitat.

OTHER TIPS:

• Upgrade your septic system to an Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) system and make sure you maintain your system.
• Install low flow toilets and other water conserving devices.
• Pick up after your pets. Dispose of pet waste in trash or toilet. Pet waste contains nutrients as well as harmful bacteria that can enter surface waters via stormwater runoff.
• Use environmentally friendly cleaning products.
• Don't flush expired medications down the toilet - instead dispose of in your regular trash. Wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to treat or remove chemicals from wastewater. They end up passing through the system and into streams and rivers where they are having adverse impacts on fish and amphibians.
• Take advantage of community household hazerdous waste pickup (or drop off) days to make sure that your household chemicals are properly handled. Don't dispose of hazardous chemicals in the regular trash - or wash them down the drain.

LINKS:

• Green Book for the Bay
• RainScaping
• First Stop for the Bay
• Maryland Cooperative Extension - Bay-Wise Landscaping
• Chesapeake Bay Program: Help the Bay in Your Home
• Chesapeake Bay Program: Help the Bay in Your Backyard
• Make Your Own Rain Barrel
• BayScapes - Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
• Marylanders Grow Trees Program
• Calculate your Nitrogen Footprint
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Take the "Gardeners for the Bay" Pledge