Keep Lake Beautiful offers tips to protect our waterways

LEESBURG — Keep Lake Beautiful recently partnered with the Lake and Sumter Realtors group during their annual Clean Up Florida Water Ways month.

The local arm of Keep America Beautiful, a national nonprofit with a focus on empowering citizens to help improve and beautify their communities, hosted the event to create awareness on stormwater drains by placing markers reminding people that “only rain down the storm drain.” 

“We are focusing on blue, green and clean because we want to keep the lakes blue and clean,” Keep Lake Beautiful facilitator Veronica Dau said. “With this great group of volunteers, we are helping remind people to do their part.” 

Nutrient impairment of water bodies and springs has become a major concern throughout Florida. Excess nutrients change the ecological balance of a waterbody and cause water quality issues including persistent algae blooms. 

With this in mind, here are some ways you can help keep our waterways beautiful. 

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Don’t dump things down the storm drain

According to Dau, one of the easiest and most efficient ways to help our lakes is easy. Just don't dump anything down the storm drains other than water. You may think this is an obvious answer to a larger problem, but Dau said people still do it. 

“You’d be surprised what people dump down there,” Dau said. 

This includes grass clippings, paint, chemicals, fertilizer, pesticides and trash.  

Don’t fertilize in the summer

Dau’s motto is “if it makes your lawn green, it will also make your lakes green.” 

Dau is warning people not to fertilize during the summer because the heavy rains often wash the chemicals that are so great for the lawn end up in the lake. 

A good alternative is to use a slow-release fertilizer or wait until the winter months. 

In 2017, Lake County approved a Fertilizer Ordinance which included a season blackout of apply fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus between June 1 and September 30. 

Wash your car on your lawn

Instead of washing your car on your driveway where the water and excess soap can drain down the sidewalk and into the storm drain, washing it on your lawn will allow the soil to soak up some of it instead.

Other helpful tips include blowing leaves and grass clippings into your yard or bag them, clean up after your pets, dispose of motor oil or other chemicals properly and choose appropriate ground covers and include vegetated buffers in your landscape plan. 

“Some ideas are very simple,” Dau said,” but if we all do a little bit it will make a lot of difference.”

People can make a pledge to have a Lake Friendly Lawn on the Keep Lake Beautiful website, lakecountyfl.gov/keep_lake_beautiful.