City of Monona issued the following announcement on Sept. 27.
Lake Monona and the Yahara River suffer every year from an injection of phosphorus due to leaves in the street curb and gutter. Leaves break down due to rain and being driven on when in the streets. Combine them with rain and instantly phosphorus gets dissolved in the rain water and washed downstream. Phosphorus is one of the best organic molecules for growing plants, however, it also grows algae very well.
One pound of dissolved phosphorus can supply enough fertilizer to grow 500 lbs. of algae!
Needless to say, Lake Monona and the Yahara needs your help. Monona Public Works crews can make it around the City once every 12-14 days with their leaf vaccuum trucks. This means there is plenty of time between pickups that people's leaves are left scattered about at the terrace where they can be blown out into the street gutter and storm drains. To keep this from happening the City is hoping that it can find volunteers to champion the effort of LEAF FREE STREETS! We need people to adopt storm drains and to caretake theirs street curb and gutters near their homes to monitor them for leaves spilling out onto the streets.
If you are a fan of clean water and you love the lakes that make this area of Wisconsin so great to live in and do business, then you should consider adopting a storm drain and being a local water quality champion.
For more information, please visit the City's Leaf Management and Adopt a Storm Drain page - https://mymonona.com/1271/Leaf-Management-Adopt-a-Storm-Drain-Prog
Also, please visit us on Facebook for routine updates and loads of great resources to make your lives more sustainable - Sustainable Monona
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Monona
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