California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
Caltrans unveiled its new stormwater public education program “Protect Every Drop” yesterday. The program aims to educate Californians about the sources and pathways of stormwater pollution, and encourage motorists to reduce the pollutants that affect water quality in California.
“Clean water is essential for our quality of life in California, and it’s important to ‘Protect Every Drop’,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Every motorist needs to do their part to keep California’s waterways clean.”
The three-year education campaign will include public relations, advertising and community outreach across California in order to help change the behavior of Californians in a way that leads to improved water quality.
“Stormwater testing shows that virtually all our lakes, rivers, bays and ocean waters get polluted after it rains, all across California,” said State Water Board Member Steven Moore. “Some of those most impacted waters are those around our bigger cities, like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento. The pollutants that can be carried in stormwater impair the beneficial uses of our waters that belong to all Californians. We can all contribute to helping keep every drop of water in our rivers, lakes and ocean clean.”
The program is guided by a steering committee that includes Caltrans, the State Water Boards and the California Stormwater Quality Association. The program will focus on educating people to take the following actions:
- Performing routine vehicle and tire maintenance, which reduces pollution from vehicles
- Properly disposing of trash and recycling
- Covering truck loads that may fall or blow off
Caltrans owns and operates storm drain systems along more than 15,000 miles of the state highway system, which discharge into every major watershed of the state.
