Stream Pollution Prevention
Preventing pollution from entering the City of Rockville’s streams in the first place is the only sure way of maintaining high water quality and good habitat for aquatic life. All of the pollution entering our streams comes from Rockville residents and businesses and, therefore, they have the power to make a big difference. Remember, storm drains lead directly to our streams. Call the Pollution Hotline to report pollution or illegal dumping: (240)-314-8343. Things You Can Do to Prevent Pollution Never pour fats, oils or grease (FOG’s) down the drain.  When deposited into a sink or toilet, FOG’s solidify trapping solids and forming hard deposits or clogs. These clogs can decrease drain capacity or cause blockages that can result in sewer backups into your home or overflows into our streams. Please remember to put all used fats, oil or grease into a disposable bottle or can and dispose it with your trash. Pick up after your pet – read our pet waste brochure for more information. Properly apply fertilizers and pesticides to your lawn and garden. Over-applying these chemical is costly for homeowners, a potential health concern for small children and pets and pollution for our streams. If fixing your car on your own, always properly dispose of the waste fluid and parts. Whenever possible, use a commercial car wash. They properly dispose of the soapy water rather then letting it run into the storm drain. Before draining your pool for the season, let the pool water stand for 5 days without adding chlorine. This allows the chlorine to dissipate so it will not harm aquatic life in our streams. When draining the pool, let the water run over your lawn. Do not place the hose directly in front of the storm drain inlet. Use care when applying de-icers to your steps, driveways and sidewalks. Keeping ice and snow off of your sidewalks and driveway is important for safety, but there are environmental consequences to using salt as a deicer, releasing chloride and many other impurities into the surrounding area.  These chemicals can make their way into our local streams and waterways harming aquatic life, or they can remain locked in your soils, threatening the plants that grow in your yard.  Report Pollution or Illegal Dumping Call the Pollution Hotline to report pollution or illegal dumping: (240)-314-8343. The City of Rockville relies on and responds to calls from citizens regarding water quality problems. Examples of problems to report include: Oil, paint or other chemicals leaking or draining into storm drains and streams. Dumping of construction waste onto the street. Sediment eroding into a storm drain or stream. Leaks and spills of automobile fluids or other waste products from automobiles. Paint in the storm drain or creek. Organic debris like pet waste in a drainage system or stream. After a complaint is reported, the City investigates. A City representative will visit the site and see if a responsible party can be identified. The responsible party will be notified and advised how to contain and cleanup the pollution or spill. Depending on the location and severity of the spill, a Notice of Violation of Rockville’s Water Quality Protection Ordinance can be issued and the responsible party may be fined up to $1,000 a day for each pollution incident. If no responsible party is found, the City will act to mitigate the impact of the pollution. This could include cleaning up the spilled material. While all pollution hotline calls can be treated anonymously, it is helpful for City staff to get the contact information of the caller so that follow-up questions can be asked if needed.