Central San -- Education:Less-Toxic Home & Garden - Store Partnerships
02/20/08


Our Water Our World
is a program designed to help you protect our sensitive water environment.

What You Should Know
Factsheets (PDFs)
Participating Stores
Program Tips
 
 


        What You Should Know

Pesticides are potentially harmful to your family, pets, and garden ecosystem, and these chemicals have been found to contribute to toxicity in our water environment. Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD) is asking for your help in reducing the risks of water pollution associated with pesticide use in our community.

CCCSD has always maintained an award-winning record of collecting and cleaning up the dirty water from bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, and garages in central Contra Costa County. However, increasingly stringent standards for water quality in the San Francisco Bay and Delta, along with advances in water quality testing, have highlighted the issue of toxicity from pesticides in Central San's treated wastewater. Tiny water fleas, similar to those at the base of the food web in the Bay/Delta ecosystem, have been found to be very sensitive to minute amounts of some pesticides that remain in Central San's treated wastewater that gets discharged into Suisun Bay. It takes just one drop of a common pesticide in the volume of two backyard swimming pools to kill this sensitive water flea.

Residential areas of our community have been identified as major contributors of pesticide pollution in both local creeks and wastewater.



        Factsheets


 


Here are some helpful factsheets (in English and selected Spanish versions) that offer less-toxic solutions to common pest problems. You can read them online, print them, or copy them to your computer.

English versions:

Spanish versions


        Participating Stores

This information is being updated.


      Program Tips

Here are some of the things you can do to maintain a healthy garden, protect your family and pets, and prevent water pollution:

  • Adopt less-toxic pest management and gardening practices. Learn more about less-toxic gardening from the Bio-Integral Resource Center (510) 524-2567, or the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Master Gardeners, (925) 646-6586. If you must use chemical pesticides, remember to read the label three times: before you purchase them, when you use them, and when you clean up or dispose of them. Follow all label directions. Be careful not to overwater after applying chemicals. If you buy pesticides, minimize opportunities for spills and contamination by buying 'ready-to-use' chemicals rather than concentrates.
  • Never dispose of pesticides in a sink, storm drain, or in the trash. Contra Costa County residents can dispose of pesticides, and other household hazardous waste via the following programs:

Central Contra Costa County HHW Collection Program
Alamo, Blackhawk, Clayton, Concord, Clyde, Danville, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pacheco, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, and other Central County unincorporated areas
 
East and West Contra Costa County HHW Collection Program
Antioch, Bay Point, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Crockett, Discovery Bay, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Knightsen, Oakley, Pinole, Pittsburg, Port Costa, Richmond, Rodeo, and San Pablo
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