Make a difference for wildlife by adding native plants to your yard. Find a variety of native wildflowers, trees, shrubs, ferns, and grasses for all growing conditions.
What you can do:
Learn more: www.nccde.org/213/Fats-Oils-Grease
Whenever possible, buy products that are free of toxic chemicals. Read the label and choose the least hazardous product to do the job. The words “warning”, “danger”, and “poison” indicate that the product’s ingredients are harmful so try to avoid. Try to select products that are made from plant-based materials, such as citrus, vegetable or pine oils.
What you can do:
Runoff can be contaminated and also causes flooding. Before our region was developed, most of the land was covered in forests, wetlands and marshes. When it rained, most of the rainwater would slowly soak into the ground. Because our landscape now includes homes, businesses and shopping centers, rainwater can’t soak through hard surfaces such as roads and parking lots but instead runs quickly over these surfaces and causes flooding.
What can you do:
If you live in a community, you can also make a difference by:
Dumping harmful pollutants, such as motor oil, into storm drains is illegal. New Castle County residents should report any pollution going into or out of the storm sewer system by contacting the pollution hotline at:
Call or text 302STOPPIT (302.786.7748), or write hotline@302stoppit.org
Learn more: www.302stoppit.org/home
City of Newark:
Gardening with native plants – plants that originated in this area – supports both water and wildlife. These plants thrive in our climate and are easy to grow and care for without using extra water or chemicals. Native trees, shrubs and plants improve water quality by filtering pollutants and help to absorb excess water with their deep roots. Plus, their seeds, berries and leaves are great food for birds, butterflies and pollinating insects.
What you can do:
If you don’t have a yard, you can still make a difference:
Scoop the Poop
Help stop Poo-llution and keep harmful bacteria out of our waters. Picking up after your pet is a simple way to keep pollution out of our waterways while keeping our parks, neighborhoods and yards clean.
There are over 110,000* dogs in New Castle County generating approximately 41 tons* of poop daily. It’s the same as untreated sewage washing into our waters!
An average size dog dropping can contain 3 billion harmful bacteria. Rain washes these bacteria and nutrients into our streams, rivers and beaches which can make water unsafe for swimming and recreation.
What you can do:
If you don’t have a dog, you can still make a difference:
* Estimate based on 34% of households owning 1.6 dogs (American Veterinary Medical Assoc) x 200,000 NCC households (US Census 2013-17) x .75 lbs waste/dog
