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Written by pondripples
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Intro: You can make choices every day to help prevent water pollution. Not all pollution comes from industry. Your activity might seem small, but there are lots of people, and everyone's small actions can add up.
Instructions
1. Wash your car at a commercial car wash.
In the U.S. car washes are required to treat waste water. If you wash in your front yard, soap, and petroleum products go into the ground water, or are washed into storm sewers which drain directly to rivers or the sea.
2. Take motor oil, antifreeze, paint, paint thinners, electronics, florescent light bulbs, batteries, and other household chemicals to a proper collection site.
In the U.S. use earth911.com to find the closest recycling or disposal center.
3. Garden organically.
Fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers get washed into water ways killing aquatic organisms and causing algae blooms, which in turn kill everything that needs oxygen to survive.
4. Keep your yard permeable.
If paving a section of your yard, use permeable paving or direct runoff to a hollow with a gravel bottom so runoff will go into the ground, not quickly into the nearest water way.
5. Don't use detergents that contain phosphate.
Phosphates cause algae blooms.
6. Conserve electricity.
Coal burning power plants contribute to acid rain.
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