RAIN BARRELS

A rain barrel collects and stores rain water from your roof that would otherwise be lost to runoff, then diverted through storm drains to your local streams, and ultimately polluting the Chesapeake Bay. Relatively simple and inexpensive to construct, a rain barrel sits conveniently under any residential gutter down spout 
and can be decorated to complement any home.

Lawn and garden watering make up nearly 40% of total household water use during the summer. A rain barrel collects water and stores it to water plants, wash your car, or to top a swimming pool. It provides an ample supply of free ‘soft water’ to homeowners, containing no chlorine, lime or calcium – making it ideal for gardens, flower pots, and car and window washing.

A rain barrel will save most homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak summer months. Saving water not only helps to protect the environment, it saves you money and energy. Using rain barrels to disconnect impervious surface areas, like your rooftop, and slowly direct stormwater to vegetated areas is an easy way for you to help protect the Chesapeake Bay, and provides you with a free supply of water for outdoor use.

          The following activities are simple ways for citizens of Maryland  to assist in protecting the environment:

- Plant a tree. Trees are essential to protecting the environment as they clean the air, absorb excess nutrients and filter stormwater runoff, cool streets and cities reducing energy costs, and prevent soil erosion.

- Make your home more energy efficient. Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their home energy bills with similar savings of greenhouse gases without sacrificing style or comfort.

- Reduce the amount of stormwater pollution, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, entering the Bay. Keep litter, pet wastes, leaves, and debris out of the street gutters and storm drains that drain directly to lake, streams, rivers, and wetlands. Apply lawn and garden chemicals in the fall season only.

- Recycle, reduce waste and properly dispose of hazardous materials. Reducing consumption, reusing items, and recycling products and materials help   to protect the environment. In addition, Americans generate 1.6 million tons of household hazardous waste per year, including paints, cleaners, stains and varnishes, car batteries, motor oil, and pesticides. When they are not properly handled, household hazardous waste can pose health risk to people and the environment.  
- Use a rain barrel to collect and store rain water. Lawn and garden watering make up nearly 40% of total household water use during the summer. A rain barrel collects water and stores it to water plants, wash your car, or to top off a swimming pool.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has compiled a list of activities that citizens can do to help the Bay at http://www.dnr.state.md.us/Bay/protect/home.html. 

* Use natural alternatives to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. If you must use them, test your soil to determine the appropriate amount. For more information call the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service at 1-800-342-2507 0r visit their website at www.agnr.umd/users/hgil/

* If a lawn care company services your lawn, make certain it is not applying "blanket" applications of fertilizer and pesticides. Ask if they have conducted soil tests and a pest analysis to determine appropriate applications.

* Re-sod or reseed bare patches in your lawn as soon as possible to avoid erosion.

For more information on nonpoint source pollution and stormwater management, please call the Maryland Department of the Environment, Water Management Administration at (410) 537-3543.

Landscapes That Help the Chesapeake Bay (.pdf file)

Lawns and the Chesapeake Bay  (.pdf file)

Help the Chesapeake Bay - lots of information on lawn care, fertilizers, controlling erosion, watering, pest control and more

Maryland Cooperative Extension, Univ. of MD - Helpful Publications 

• Install rain barrels. This simple measure serves to collect water for your garden AND reduces the amount of runoff which adversely affects the Bay.
• Use rainspouts to your advantage. Direct them into your garden, adding extenders if necessary.
• Think twice before adding driveway or patio space. Impervious surfaces reduce natural turf acreage which is essential for filtering out sediments and pollutants from rainwater runoff. Consider using porous pavers.
• Plant and maintain a rain garden. Not only do rain gardens enhance your landscape, they also provide a holding area for runoff and encourage natural absorption of water into the ground.
• Pick up pet waste found inside and outside your yard. Do not leave it at the curb and never deposit it down storm drains - they lead directly to our streams and the Chesapeake Bay. Pet waste contains harmful bacteria. Dispose of it in your trash receptacle.
• Ensure prompt maintenance and repair of septic systems. Schedule pumping by a licensed professional every 2 to 3 years.
• Use sand, not salt, when treating icy sidewalks. Salt ends up in lakes, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay, with the increasing salinity having adverse impacts on plant and animal life.
• If possible, wash cars on a grassy area - not in your driveway - thereby allowing the water to soak into the ground.  Be sure any detergent you use is biodegradable.
• Learn about lawn care practices that are friendly to the environment. For example, never apply lawn chemicals before an expected rain. Use natural, slow-release fertilizers. Fertilizing in the fall promotes strong and healthy lawns.
  
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 888-SAVEBAY, www.cbf.org
  • Clean Water Action, 202-895-0420, www.cleanwateraction.org

   

Many THANKS to Judy Kay, Master Gardener, for a wonderful talk and slide show presentation on how to make our yards Bay Friendly.  She covered a wide variety of topics on Native Plants and Rain Gardens. 

And a big THANK YOU to Steve Kullen, with Calvert County's Bay Restoration Program.  He gave a very informative talk on the new Nitrogen Reducing Septic Systems.  Everyone had a lot of questions for him. 

Sue Coffey was the winner of the Rain Barrel Raffle.  Thanks to Mary Klausner and Dorothy Oliver for organizing this event.  Thanks to Brent Golden for the Rain Barrel.  
Thanks to all who made the delicious desserts. 

We hope to have more guest speakers in the future.  more info posted

PLEASE REMEMBER - What We Do Matters!
Our landscapes are connected to the Chesapeake Bay.  
Prevent pollution and runoff with a healthy yard.
If you MUST FERTILIZE your lawn... Do so in the FALL or Not at all
Fertilizer runoff is very harmful to the Bay

Bay Friendly Landscaping

DO SOMETHING TODAY TO SAVE THE BAY!

The "Dead Zone"
Imagine what life would be like if, for months at a time, the air we breathed contained little or no oxygen. The Chesapeake Bay's "dead zone," stretching for hundreds of square miles during the summer, has too little oxygen to support a healthy ecosystem. Though you can't see it, the "dead zone" has a devastating impact on the creatures living in the Bay and its tributaries.  Read the Chesapeake Bay Foundations fact sheets about the "dead zone" and other issues to learn more about the Bay.

Your Boat and the Bay: Facts about Bay-friendly boating

 
" It's volunteers that make an extra effort every day to strengthen our relationships 
in the community and help make Neeld Estate a wonderful place to live"

NECA FACEBOOK

Home | NECA Events | NECA Membership | NECA Birth/ Death Notices | NECA Info | 
 NECA Photo Album | Neeld Mansion | NECA Recipe's | Links | Isabel Info | Hurricane Preparedness Info 

 The Neeld Estate Beach is PRIVATELY OWNED  by the Neeld family 
and can ONLY be used by Residents of Neeld Estate and their Guests
Anyone else is TRESPASSING on Private Property
"Violators will be prosecuted by authority of Plum Point Corp."  
(Posted on the signs leading to the beach)

Last Update: 01/29/2012