South students help make city water safer

The FFA students circulated about 100 hang tags on the doors of city residents as well as 34 markers near storm drains in an effort to educate residents about keeping water supplies clean.

By: Linda Seida
   Some people know they’re doing something wrong and do it anyway.
   Others simply have no clue.
   Take, for example, the woman who thought she’d accomplished a wonderful thing by training her pooch to poop over a storm drain.
   "She thought it was great," said Tali Engoltz, education coordinator for Lambertville’s Stormwater Committee.
   The dog’s training is acceptable because the streets are cleaner, and the water is treated anyway, right?
   Wrong. Whatever is dumped into sewers is carried by rainwater directly into such waterways as the Delaware River, Delaware and Raritan Canal and nearby streams.
   Lambertville’s main source of drinking water is the canal, and the canal draws water from the river.
   "It can impair the drinking water or increase the cost of treatment," Ms. Engoltz said.
   Other people dump into storm drains everything from motor oil and windshield washer fluid to antifreeze and household cleaners.
   "Anything you wouldn’t want in your drinking water, I wouldn’t dump it," Ms. Engoltz said.
   With the help of students from South Hunterdon Regional High School, the committee has embarked on an education campaign. Seven students, members of the Future Farmers of America under the direction of teacher David Ritter, spent several hours Saturday morning placing educational hang tags on the doorknobs of about 100 houses to spread the word.
   An officer from the Lambertville Police Department helped with traffic safety. The Lambertville Trading Company donated hot chocolate after the students were done working.
   They also placed 34 markers on some of the city’s storm drains, starting on York Street and moving on to North Franklin and Coryell streets before concluding on Lambert Lane. The bright blue-and-green markers say, "Don’t Dump, Drains to Waterways."
   "The labels are to promote citizen stewardship in protecting the canal and the Delaware River and tributaries from pollutants entering the storm sewer," said committee Chairman John Miller.
   Some drains already have the message imprinted on their metal casting. They’re on streets that have undergone roadwork and repairs such as Swan Street, according to Ms. Engoltz. When other streets undergo repairs, their drains also will have the warning imprinted on the metal.
   In the meantime, the bright blue-and-green markers will have to serve as warnings.
   "Eventually, all drains will have to be marked," Ms. Engoltz said.
   The educational activity helps the city meet one of the state requirements for a municipality’s newly instituted stormwater permit, according to Mr. Miller. The committee supervised the labeling with help from the Environmental Commission.