Nonpoint source pollution is the biggest threat to the health of our waterways today. Every single one of us contributes to it. Every effort you make to reduce it in your backyard and on your land, improves the quality of your community’s drinking water and the quality of Virginia’s rivers and streams. As more of us take individual and responsible steps to control NPS pollution, we can make great strides as communities in solving local NPS pollution problems.
The way our communities grow can either contribute to the NPS pollution problem or be a solution to it. Sound land-use planning in our communities is essential to the health of our waterways. It’s important to get involved on the local level in your own watershed to make sure that NPS pollution is addressed and controlled when land-use decisions are made. Every decision we make is important to the health of our waterways — from how we design our communities to be convenient and safe for children, to how we design communities to control the harmful effects of stormwater runoff.
You can make a difference.
Become involved in local planning meetings.
Contact your local DCR watershed office.
Get involved in community watershed planning as part of the Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement.
Become active in local watershed management by joining DCR’s community watershed roundtables.
Get involved in state and local environmental education programs.
Participate in stream cleanups with DCR’s Adopt-A-Stream program.
Get involved in citizen monitoring programs through the DEQ and Virginia Save Out Streams.
Recognize efforts in your community with DCR’s Clean Water Farm Award Program.
Support NPS pollution control, prevention and educational programs by purchasing a Chesapeake Bay license plate.
Join others to clean up our waterways.
