What travels down the drain does matter
Campbelltown City Council has launched a project to educate residents on the importance of reducing the impact of stormwater pollution on local waterways.
The drain stencilling project involves the marking of stormwater drain lids with environmental messages, to serve as a visible reminder to residents of the need to change these behaviours to help reduce pollutants entering our drainage systems.
The project is being introduced in Glen Alpine, where it is partly funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, and will be progressively rolled out throughout the Campbelltown Local Government Area (LGA).
Mayor of Campbelltown, Cr Anoulack Chanthivong, said drain stencilling was an innovative way of educating residents on being mindful of their actions and the impact on the environment.
“Simple, everyday actions, that are often taken for granted, such as washing the car on the road or driveway, littering, sweeping or hosing lawn mowing clippings into gutters and not cleaning up after your pets, can directly affect the health of our waterways,” he said.
“The drain stencilling project is designed to serve as a visible reminder to residents of the need to change these behaviours to help reduce pollutants entering our drainage systems.
“The drain is just for rain, and healthy waterways are one way we can help protect the survival of freshwater and marine aquatic life,” Cr Chanthivong said.
The broader implementation of the project across the Campbelltown LGA will involve a competition in partnership with local primary schools to determine other appropriate designs for the drain stencils, and Campbelltown City Council will nominate pollution hot-spots to be targeted for stencilling.
It is envisaged that up to 1000 drains across the LGA will be stencilled as part of the project.
The stencilling project will also be complemented by a wider education campaign on the impacts of stormwater pollution.
For more information, contact Council’s Environmental Planning section on (02) 4645 4847 or visit www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au.
