Here are some tips
you can use around your home and
in your yard to help protect your drinking
water. Other benefits from following these
tips include water conservation, a healthier
environment, less exposure to toxic
chemicals and even saving money.
AROUND THE HOME
Repairing and maintaining
your car
• Have your car serviced at a repair shop that
recycles or correctly disposes of chemicals. Also
look for EnviroStars-certified businesses,
which reduce and responsibly manage their use
of hazardous chemicals.
• If you work on your own car,
place a drip pan, tarp or newspapers
underneath it to catch drips and leaks.
Clean up spills right away with kitty
litter, rags or other absorbent material.
The absorbent material can then be
thrown into the trash.
• Used chemicals from your car, such as windshield
wiper fluid, brake fluid, transmission fluid and
antifreeze, are hazardous wastes that should be
disposed of at a hazardous waste collection site,
such as the Tacoma Landfill’s HazWaste Place.
• Recycle your motor oil. You can also buy rerefined motor oil, which is required to meet the
same standards as other motor oils.
• Instead of highly toxic ethylene glycol-based
antifreeze, choose a less toxic propylene
glycol-based antifreeze (such as Sierra, Prestone
LowTox or AMSOIL).
Painting
• Choose water-based (latex) paints instead of
oil-based paints. Oil-based paints contain more
toxic ingredients that can easily pollute water
if spilled on the ground. Water-based paints,
varnishes, stains and paint strippers are widely
available.
• Buy only as much paint as you
need for the job. Give any leftover
paint to friends, community service organizations, churches or local theater groups.
• If you need to dispose of latex
paint, you can air dry it or mix in kitty litter or
cement mix until dry. After it hardens, throw
it out with the trash. Oil-based paints are
hazardous wastes and should be sealed and
disposed of at the Tacoma Landfill’s HazWaste
Place.
• Clean latex paint off of brushes by wiping off
as much paint as possible on a rag, then rinsing
out the rest in the sink. If using oil-based paint,
wipe off the paint on a rag, then wash the brush
in paint thinner. The thinner can be reused
after the paint solids are filtered out or it can be
disposed of at Tacoma’s HazWaste Place.
Car washing
• Take your car to a commercial
car wash. Commercial car washes
recycle and/or treat the used wash
water, then dispose it into the
sanitary sewer instead of storm
drains (which discharge directly
into the Puget Sound).
• If you wash your car at home, use less toxic
biodegradable soaps and wash it on the lawn
instead of on a driveway or in the street. Dump
wash water into a sink or toilet so it’ll go to the
sanitary sewer instead of the storm drains.
IN THE YARD
Building a Healthy Yard
• Choose native and locally adapted plants, which
are naturally resistant to local insects and diseases.
Be sure to place plants where the conditions are
right for them to thrive. Fall is usually the best time
to plant, taking advantage of winter rains that help
plants establish roots before the dry and hot summer
weather arrives.
• Water only as needed. One inch of water once
a week, including rainfall, is generally enough to
keep a healthy lawn green during a typical summer.
Unless it’s an unusually hot or dry summer, most
established plants can go without watering.
• Mow the grass high (2 inches
for most grasses) using a regularly
sharpened mower blade. Tall grass
develops a deep root system and
prevents new weeds from sprouting.
Leaving the clippings on the lawn will
help fertilize it.
• Healthy plants will resist most
diseases and insects and out-compete most
weeds. There are always a few bugs and weeds in
lawns and gardens. They won’t usually become
a problem unless your plants have underlying
problems. The main causes of weak, stressed plants
are over-watering and over-fertilizing.
Fertilizing
• Fertilize only as needed with slowrelease organic fertilizers, which only
need to be applied to lawns twice a year
because more of it is used by the grass
and less is washed away to groundwater
and surface water. For your garden, use
organic mulches (other than bark chips).
Controlling weeds and pests
• Avoid weed-killing chemicals. Chemicals are just
a short-term solution. The best way to stay ahead of
weeds is by maintaining healthy plants and soil.
• Try hand-pulling your weeds (roots and all). Do it
before they go to seed to prevent weeds in the future.
Weed-pulling tools can make the job easier.
• Encourage birds and beneficial insects such as
ladybugs in your garden by planting a
wide variety of plants and by providing
water and shelter for birds. Birds and
beneficial insects control pests
naturally. Avoid spraying pesticides,
which kill good insects along with
pests.
• Try non-toxic and less-toxic pest
control products such as insecticidal soaps,
horticultural oils, boric acid or biological controls
such as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis).
• If you do use toxic products for weed or pest
control, spot spray in the problem area instead
of spraying all over. For weed control, choose
glyphosate-based products (such as Round-up,
Rodeo and Accord), which are less likely to affect
groundwater. For pest control, positively identify the
pest, then choose a pesticide that specifically targets
it instead of broad-spectrum
pesticides.
Want more information?
To learn more about ways to protect your water contact:
Tacoma Pierce County Health Department’s Household
Hazardous Waste line at 1-800-287-6429 or Tacoma
Landfill’s HazWaste Place at 591-5418 to learn more about
safe disposal of hazardous wastes. The HazWaste Place is at
3510 South Mullen St., which is off Center Street between
Orchard and Tyler streets. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Washington State University’s Pierce County Cooperative
Extension at 253-798-7180 or the Master Gardener Program at
253-798-7170. The WSU Master Gardener Web site at
http://ipm.wsu.edu, or http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/
lanb002/lanb002.htm is a great source of information.
Another good Web site is http://pep.wsu.edu.
Tacoma Water’s Water Conservation Office, 253-502-8723
for information on indoor and outdoor conservation
techniques including information on yard care and
Northwest Natural Yard Days events.