1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. Unique Idea

I thought some of the forum people would like this idea.

JaD

Hi John-

Yes, it's a good idea to remind people that storm drains empty into waterways containing fish. In WA where I live, we've had similar signage for perhaps 15 years.

Communities I've lived in have these signs too. I wonder how effective they are? Although the dumping of toxic materials is a potential issue, it's much less than it was 30 years ago when people were much more clueless about pollution.

Problem is, storms drains themselves are an indication of poor-in-practice water cycle management -"suburban headwater streams" I call them. If you pave a landscape, or add rooftops, you've destroyed water retention and have to start ditching. Necessary evil. If you have a trout stream you love, watch development plans in that watershed and push for intelligent water management.

The signs never hurt, regardless of the technical efficacy of wastewater treatment wherever we are. Actually, based on what I've been reading/seeing lately, a good place to maybe add the signs would be on the tank of everybody's toilet...

There's a lot of spooky speculation (and becoming less "speculative" and more confirmed by the day) regarding the impact of trace amounts of disposed pharmaceuticals either simply flushed or in some cases, or already metabolized in others, on fish populations. They're finding nanogram-level concentrations of everything from ibuprofen to estrogen to Mirtazapine to Prozac to the statin drugs at measurable levels in our waterways and there is a growing body of evidence that these traces may be causing changes in the reproductive capacity of various fish populations.

Virtually none of the modern water treatment systems are capable of filtering this stuff out and the drug chains around here are all offering free disposal services for unused or expired prescriptions.

When it comes to fish (and the natural world around us), it never ends. Our mere presence is always trying to eradicate all other life in one way or another. It's always something...

So true. There are just SO many of us now.

I live in Western Pa, we must be behind the times.A first for sure in this area ,I think I will bring this up to city council meeting.

Best
John

I started seeing these types of signs in Oregon back in '93. Their salmonids needed all the help they could get! Probably still do, from what I've heard...

Don't know exactly where it started but I've seen them here in Michigan quite a bit lately, also signage over culverts & bridge crossings spelling out just what river each little tributary drains to. I think it's a great idea because most people have no clue that their local "drainage ditch" or street drain actually goes to a river or lake instead of down the toilet to the wastewater treatment plant!

Jonathon

Lee,

In the early 70's when I first started college I had a poli-sci professor who used the American toilet as a metaphor for the way we deal with a lot of things...He use to say that we flushed it down the toilet and forgot about it, it's now downstream, and someone else's problem...Then go on with the rest of our day.

It's not just from folks throwing out their meds...It's the excess our bodies can't metabolize and we piss away...I can think of a million ways to go with this for a joke, but it taint' funny.

Spence

Hi all,
I think it is a great idea. We need more reminders like that.

Spence,
In the early 70s I worked in the City of Syracuse Sewage Treatment Facility. You would not believe the things people flushed down the toilet!

Mark

In the past, I've asked classes if their faucet is connected to someone else's drain. For most of us, the answer is yes.

On another note the Muffin Monster is an eye opener. I hope the link is listed

www.jwce.com/category/muffin-monster-grinders