Litter and dumping in Pennsylvania continues to be an issue effecting water quality.

We are all familiar with roads where litter is scattered or a property that has some sort of dumping on it. Anytime it rains or snows the precipitation percolates through dump sites conveying the pollutants directly into ground water and into runoff. Education and community involvement are the best solutions to cleaning up and preventing litter and dumping.

Dump sites can be illegal roadside dumping, farm dumping and private or municipal dumping. Items found at dump sites can be anything from yard waste to items considered hazardous waste. All dumping impacts water quality. Penn State has a publication available about Roadside Dumps and Water Quality. Yard waste such grass cuttings dumped along a stream bank becomes excess nutrients that create algae blooms which eventually die and remove dissolved oxygen from the water. I’m sure anyone who goes fishing would prefer this not be the case. Fish and many other aquatic life forms depend on dissolved oxygen. At the very least some debris is an eyesore. These items include tires, furniture, carpeting, construction debris and other household trash. Many of these items can collect water and eventually breed mosquitoes. Other items such as old appliances, paint cans, batteries, fuel and waste oil can leak and contaminate miles of a stream or a creek. Household hazardous wastes such as pesticides, wood preservatives and solvents can also be found at illegal dump sites. All of these items can be recycled, composted or properly collected and disposed of in Pennsylvania. Residents are advised to contact their local municipality for information about annual collection dates.

Addressing roadside litter is relatively easy to tackle by promoting and participating in adopt-a-road programs such as PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway. Many state roads are available for adoption. The normal length of road for adoption is two miles and you or your volunteer group performs a cleanup event four times a year. Cleanup efforts help the environment, minimize maintenance cost and make Pennsylvania more attractive to tourism and businesses. Some local municipalities also have adopt-a-road programs for local roads.

What would you do if you found an illegal dump site while performing a stream restoration project? Of course you would be interested in cleaning it up but who do you contact for help? Some people may know who to contact locally but if not it may be best to first contact Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. The mission of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is to empower Pennsylvanians to make our communities clean and beautiful. Their guiding principles include education, individual responsibility, public-private partnerships and volunteer action. Many counties in Pennsylvania already have a local affiliate. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful provides assistance, tools and resources to help prevent and clean up litter and illegal dumping and methods to keep those areas clean.

Research done has shown that trash attracts trash and when a community is clean, it tends to stay clean. Each one of us has the ability to make a difference for Pennsylvania and clean water. It starts by picking up the next piece of litter we see.