Respecting every drop
When water goes down the drain, it doesn’t just go away. Instead, it travels through the sewer system to the District’s Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it is cleaned before being returned to the environment as safe, fishable and swimmable water. While we do remove many pollutants at the plant, some are costly and challenging to take out. Fortunately, pollution prevention can help.
When water goes down the drain, it doesn’t just go away.
The solution?
Keep these pollutants out of the wastewater in the first place.
Through education, outreach and innovative program design, our Pollution Prevention team works diligently to keep pollutants such as chloride, mercury, pharmaceuticals and others from reaching the plant in the first place. By keeping these items out of our wastewater, we can help protect clean water while keeping sewer bills low.
What you can do
Your everyday actions to keep pollutants out of the drain help to protect our water. Learn more about specific pollutants that the District is working to reduce and how you can help.
Chloride
The treatment plant can’t remove dissolved salt, or chloride, from wastewater. Learn what you can do to reduce your salt use.
Mercury
Mercury is highly toxic, and we need everyone’s help to keep it out of water and wastewater.
Nonflushables
The only things that should be flushed down the toilet are the 3 Ps: pee, poop and (toilet) paper. Everything else is a nonflushable.
Pharmaceutical waste
There is a place for old, unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications, and it’s not the sewer system.
Phosphorus
Too much phosphorus in our local waters creates smelly, unsightly algae growth. Learn what the District is doing to reduce phosphorus pollution.
PFAS
Learn more about what the District is doing to address PFAS in the wastewater cycle.
