Lycoming College students interning with the College’s Clean Water Institute are volunteering their time this summer to help educate the local community about storm water pollution and how to prevent further damage to Lycoming County streams and the Susquehanna River, which eventually spill into the Chesapeake Bay.

The interns are painting “Do Not Dump – Drains to the River” on storm drain inlets in downtown Williamsport.

In the photo, Students Bruce Withey and Megan Shulze stencil area storm drains.

The message is to remind citizens not to dump waste into storm sewers or contribute more pollutants to ordinary storm water runoff by littering, over fertilizing or sweeping yard debris into the street.

The project is being aided by the use of stencils provided by the Pennsylvania College of Technology and paint, brushes and safety equipment donated by the city of Williamsport.

According to Dr. Mel Zimmerman, director of the Clean Water Institute and professor of biology at Lycoming, storm drain stenciling has been used successfully in other communities, such as Lewisburg, Pa., to reduce overall water pollution.

The project, put into motion in July, is a product of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Partnership, a group of six Williamsport area municipalities working together to prevent storm water pollution from construction, new development and illegal discharges to the storm sewer system.

Other municipalities involved are Old Lycoming Township, Loyalsock Township, South Williamsport Borough, Duboistown Borough and Montoursville Borough.

Zimmerman says common, every day materials are often forgotten once they’re out of sight and mind, but substances such as household chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, used motor oil, yard debris, antifreeze and pet litters are washed from parking lots and driveways into the streets and eventually the storm drain inlets.

There’s also the danger of people who deliberately dump hazardous materials, specifically motor oil, into storm sewers, an illegal act prohibited by an adopted municipal storm water ordinance. A single quart of motor oil can ruin the quality of 250,000 gallons of water.

“Many people don’t understand that storm drains are the entry point into the storm sewer system and that storm water leaving the system does not get treated first like sanitary wastewater,” said John Grado, community development director for the city of Williamsport. “Untreated storm water is carried directly into area streams and the river.”

Disposing of oil and other dangerous materials via sinks or toilets is also discouraged due to the fact that they are also extremely harmful to sewage treatment plants. Instead, residents are highly encouraged to recycle these resources.

“Every citizen has a role in preventing pollution,” said Kevin Johnson, an environmental specialist at Penn College. “These kinds of projects work because they get the government, volunteer groups and businesses working together to solve a shared problem.”

For more information, please contact Lycoming County MS4 Coordinator Kevin McJunkin at 570-320-2136. (By Sarah Feaster '09, Lycoming College News, August 4, 2009)

8/8/2008