Back to Stormwater Quality

Introduction

In Action 5, you designed simple neighborhood actions to improve stormwater quality. In this action, you will evaluate the affect of those activities and expand your impact in your community. 

Evalute your impact
Depending on how much time has passed since you completed Action 5, you may or may not notice a visible reduction in the pollutants you targeted with your actions. Physical improvements like picking up litter or correcting irrigation overspray can improve the situation right away, but influencing others can be difficult. Persuading others to change their behavior can take time. Thank your neighbors when you see them taking actions to help reduce pollutants to reinforce these behaviors. 

Social conformity
You may have more power than you realize. Social conformity is a type of influence that results in a change of behavior or belief in order to fit in with a group. If a neighbor consistently sees you sweeping away debris on the sidewalk or picking up pet waste, they are more likely to do so themselves. Did any of your neighbors ask you about your project? Use this opportunities to explain the importance of everyone doing their part to keep pollutants out of our stormwater system. 

Expand your actions
Revisit the projects you completed in Action 5 and consider if any improvements can be made to make it even more effective or involve a larger part of the community. Explore the examples and ideas below for inspiration. 

Examples and ideas

• Litter
  ​In one neighborhood, a school-aged resident identified litter as a problem.  She created awareness of the problem and educated her family and neighbors with a flyer.  In the flyer, she explained she would be picking up litter, and she hoped her neighbors would join her.  She even offered to provide bags and gloves.​​
• ​Pet Waste​
  Hand out pet waste bags to neighbors with dogs. You can contact your city for free pet waste bags. 
• Oil
  If you see stains on the ground under a neighbor's car, talk to your neighbor about the importance of keeping oil out of out stormwater system. If you don't know your neighbor, leave a friendly note or put up a sign nearby. Remember, you will have the most influence if you are helpful and friendly.
• Sediment
  If the sediment is flowing from a city-owned area like a park or from a business, send a letter or email and ask that they install erosion control straw wattles to reduce sediment leaving the site. ​If it is a neighborhood home, talk to the neighbor or educate them with a friendly note or poster. 
• ​Fertilizer
  ​This is a tough one. Fertilizer is a real problem when it makes its way to our rivers, lakes and the ocean. However, it is difficult to observe it because it often dissolves. What you can see is water running from homes and businesses that are overwatering. This runoff likely contains some amount of dissolved fertilizers. To reduce this pollutant, talk to neighbors about reducing irrigation overspray or using easy care plants in landscape that require both less fertilizer and less irrigation.

Instructions

1. Print this Data Collection Sheet and use it as a guide to evaluate the impact of your actions so far. 
2. Expand your impact by identifying ways you can influence more of your neighbors to get involved and take action. 
3. Come back and report about what happened using the form below.

Evaluate and Report

Report back to us about what you found. ​

Submit findings

Ready for your final Stormwater Quality Action?