Our neighborhoods are a major source of water pollution. When rainwater runs across lawns, driveways, or public streets, it picks up chemicals and small particles lying on these surfaces. Examples include soil, lawn care chemicals, pet waste, heavy metals, oil, antifreeze, trash, and yard waste. This water then runs through ditches or into storm sewers and directly to our streams and lakes, carrying whatever it acquired along the way. Open the front of back door and you'll find a number of subtle sources of water pollution. Most obvious are the little gifts the dog leaves out on the lawn droppings full of viral and bacterial contaminants. Last but not least are outdoor drainage systems, most of which channel runoff from your house or driveway into the nearest storm drain or creek and into the bays. Upon careful inspection, residential areas are filled with potential pollutants. By making simple changes in home management, a significant amount of this residential pollution can be eliminated.

• Get out of the house. People become disconnected and apathetic when they fail to spend time outdoors and discover what's around them. By educating themselves in this manner, people become better equipped to note the changes going on around them and make intelligent decisions about the future.
• Avoid pesticide use. Pesticides not only kill mosquitoes, they kill other insects like butterflies, which are an essential part of the food chain. Several species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in Worcester rely on insects as a staple food source. Some pesticides do not biodegrade easily and eventually seep into groundwater, fouling it for years.
• Consider replacing hard, impermeable surfaces around you home with permeable ones. Instead of solid paving for driveways, walkways, and other outdoor areas, use wooden decking, bricks, stones, or pavers so runoff can penetrate gaps and filter through the soil and gravel underneath. Use porous materials such as concrete grid pavement for driveways and sidewalks.
• Avoid discharging into a storm drain when pressure washing old exterior housepaint which could contain lead. Tarp the ground and collect solid waste paint residues for appropriate hazardous waste disposal.
• Pick up after your pet and dispose of wastes in the toilet. . It has also been determined that 2-3 days of droppings from just 100 dogs in a small bay watershed can contribute to enough bacteria to temporarily close the area to swimming.
• Don't empty chlorinated water into ponds, streams, or storm drains where it could cause fish kills. Law requires you to remove all chlorine residue from pools of hot tubs before you can empty them into a storm drain. To do this, let them sit for two weeks, then test the chlorine level with a kit available from pool and hardware stores. After the test reads zero for several days, discharge the water so it flows across as much lawn or plant life as possible before it reaches the storm drain. Also avoid using algicides in your pool, especially copper-based ones, which are highly toxic to marine life. Do not chlorinate the pool for several days before draining it. Drain the pool slowly onto a large expanse of lawn to allow the water to slowly filter through the soil. Never drain directly into a waterway or the street. At the time of pool discharge, there should be NO detectable levels of chlorine, and pH rating should be neutral (between 6.0 and 8.5).
• Position your gutter or spout to drain away from concrete or asphalt. By draining into vegetated areas, rainwater can be naturally stripped of nutrients and other pollutants before reaching the bays. Keep runoff away from septic system drain field.
• Keep deicing materials on paved surfaces and apply only what is necessary. Sweep up excess after thaw and store for later use.
• Rainwater runs off paved surfaces 10 times faster than unpaved land. It has also been determined that 2-3 days of droppings from just 100 dogs in a small bay watershed can contribute to enough bacteria to temporarily close the area to swimming.