How do people feel about water quality and runoff?

This past weekend we had a little survey at the Douglas County Fish and Game Show. We asked: 
1) Stormwater runoff is not important in rural areas
                        5/27 strongly agreed
                        5/27 somewhat agreed
                        2/27 somewhat disagreed
                       15/27 strongly disagreed

2) Water quality is important to me
                        24/27 strongly agreed
                         3/27 somewhat agreed
                        0/27 somewhat disagreed
                        0/27 strongly disagreed

3) How do you wash your car?
                         20/28 used commercial car wash
                          3/28 hand wash on paved driveway
                          6/28 hand wash on lawn
                          1/28 does not wash car


Everyone surveyed agrees that water quality is important to them. However, there were some people who believes that stormwater runoff is NOT IMPORTANT in rural areas. Rural areas ARE important to runoff. In fact the 2000 National Water Quality Inventory indicated that rural runoff is the leading source of pollution to surveyed rivers and lakes and a major contributor to groundwater contamination. It is important in rural areas to be mindful of runoff. That includes: picking up pet waste, incorporating native plant species to reduce runoff and erosion, limiting chemical use, and much more.

Most people do use a commercial car wash to wash their car. This is great as commercial car washes are designed to properly treat all the soapy and dirty wash water. Washing your car on the lawn is pretty good too as the washwater will soak into the ground. You should washing on a paved surface (good to see only a few do) as all the wash water will flow right into a storm drain and then right into a nearby stream.