Spring Cleaning in Superior!

The sun is shining, the snow is disappearing, and the bits of green are popping out. Spring is here! This is a great time to get energized and do some clean up that we may have neglected over the dark winter. Earth Day (Friday, April 22) is also a reminder that we should take actions to clean up our town. Fortunately there are a lot of upcoming events that makes Spring Cleaning much easier!

• Stream Rescue: Faxon Creek Clean Up 
• Saturday, April 23, 1-4 pm
• Meet at intersection of Lamborn Ave and N. 23rd St
• Hosted by Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and us (no RSVP required)

• FREE LANDFILL DAYS 
• Saturdays, April 23 & April 30, 8am - 2:30pm
• Bring extra household trash for FREE
• Spring clean your yard and bring extra brush for FREE. Landfill accepts grass clippings, leaves, and used motor oil FREE year-round
• NO household hazardous waste (electronics, fluorescent bulbs, etc.)
• For more information visit: http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/landfill

•  2016 Annual Spring Cleanup & Annual Brush Cleanup (MAY 2-27)
• Can't make the Free landfill days? This is a solution
• Leave eligible materials for pickup at designated time and locations for Spring Cleanup
• Brush placed on boulevard/streetside of house will also be picked up at designated locations. 
• Check out the Cleanup and Brush Schedules here: http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/landfill

• Community Clean Up
• Saturday, May 14, 9:30-noon
• Meet at Hammond Park (1920 Hammond Ave.)
• Contact Tammy Thibert for more info or to sign up (thibertt@ci.superior.wi.us; 715-395-7596)

Clean up the Outdoors

Clean Up the Outdoors

The city of Superior Public Works Department has street sweeping April through the fall and the brush pickup is happening in late April.  Sand was applied to roads during the winter time for driving safety.  Now that the snow is mostly gone the sand remains.  The city picks it up and it heads to a temporary site and then to the landfill.   Some cities do not use sand.  However, there are temperatures that salt doesn’t work (too cold) so sand was a way to add traction for safety during those icy times.   We don’t want the sand – or loose soil – to go down storm drains to head to local streams.   Ensure that soil erosion is reduced by having plant roots in place to hold the soil and find ways to reduce the flow of stormwater such as by putting in a rain barrel or having less impervious surfaces.  Water picks up things as it flows over surfaces.  If the surfaces are clean or held in tack it won’t move things.    

There are two free landfill days scheduled  - one on April 25 and the other on May 2.  From 8 AM until 2:30 PM on those days the City of Superior residents can drop off household trash, brush, tires, grass clippings and used motor oil for free.  To drop-off of a mattress you will have to pay $10 each or $13 to drop one off if damp, wet, or heavily soiled.  From the tour we had at the landfill in the fall, about 18,000 mattress are brought to the Superior landfill each year and not very many of them are recycled because they come in wet.  So keep your unwanted mattress dry so that it can go through the program at Goodwill that recycles all the materials. 
  As a reminder recyclables, electronics, appliance, demolition/construction material, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and household hazardous waste are not accepted at the landfill.  

Also, be sure to pick up pet waste as you walk your dog.  It’s natural material and would ‘go away’ in time but by picking it up you are removing the chance for stormwater to move some of the pet waste and have it travel down a storm drain. 

Finally, inevitably there is litter around.  The wind blew it, the rain moved it, or someone litters on purpose.    Put on a pair of rubber gloves and do some litter pickup for areas in town.  It will be a great way to bring beauty to our city.  Parks, yards, and areas in town will soon have flowers in bloom.  Let’s let the flowers color the lawns and not litter.

 

Enjoy the warmer days and longer days ahead.  Get out and go for a walk.  Admire our local streams and the shore of Lake Superior and bay.  We really do live in a beautiful place.

Sept 18 (Thursday) film showing of Waterlife - the epic journey of water

Come watch the full length film showing of Waterlife - the epic journey of water on Thursday, Sept 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Superior Public Library. This is part of National Pollution Prevention Week.

Plants for Indoor Air Quality!

We spend 90% of our time indoors. According to the EPA, indoor pollutants may be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels. Many traditional cleaning products, paints, building materials, and office equipment such as printers and markers emit fumes that may have adverse health effects. We previously blogged about "freeing" your home of harmful toxins. Another great way to reduce toxins is by adding plants into your home.

In the late 1980s, NASA conducted a study of how houseplants could improve indoor air quality. Many newer homes are designed for energy efficiency, thus are often tightly sealed. This reduces energy loss, but also traps toxic chemicals in the air. Here is how houseplants can come to the rescue. Many houseplants come from tropical environments with thick canopies and limited light levels. Thus these plants evolved to become very efficient at capturing light and processing gases.

Here are some varieties that are best at filtering:
English ivy
Spider plant
Peace lily
Pothos                                                                
Snake plant (Mother-in-law tongue)
Philodendron
Dracaena
Ficus

These plants not only produce oxygen and water vapor, but they absorb carbon dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde, and/or trichloroethylene (chemicals commonly found in building materials and cleaning supplies).

On a side note . . . has your home ever been tested for radon? Radon is an odorles, tastelss, invisible gas produced by the decay of naturally occurring uranium in the soil and water. Radon moves from the ground into homes where it is then trapped.  It is the second leading cause of lung caner and the EPA recommend that all homes be tested (radon disclosure required for MN home sellers). Test kits can be found at hardware stores.

Learn about water from New York projects

EPA's Healthy Watersheds Program Promotes Planning for Green Infrastructure at the Landscape Scale - A Case Study of New York
There will be a webinar on Tuesday, January 14 from noon to 2 p.m.  Listen from your computer.
http://water.epa.gov/learn/training/wacademy/upload/flyer-gi-landscapes-ny.pdf

I'd also like to share this link below that I came across when looking up the benefits of trees for reducing stormwater runoff and helping clean water.   Trees also have air quality benefits and energy-savings benefits.  According to the assessment of the value of trees in New York City the total of $122 million was given as the value
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets/images/treecount_report.pdf

Fun Event at Library Next Week!!

If you are looking for something fun to do with the little ones next Friday (Dec. 27), then we have just the thing. "Our water is in our hands" is a fun program about keeping our freshwater healthy and will include a puppet show, story, and activity. It will be held at the Superior Public Library at 1 pm.

Clean Water - clean waterways depend on community efforts - Come chat on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.

The final chat in our 3 part series - Bites on Clean Water - will be on Thursday, October 24 at Big Apple Bagels, 1224 Belknap.  The topic of discussion is how do activities in the community impact our local streams, rivers, and Lake Superior.  Not everyone makes it to the shores of a stream or Lake Superior everyday but with the over 2000 storm drains in our area we are all standing on the shore of streams and lakes via the nearby storm drains carrying materials moved by stormwater runoff down the drain.    What is on our lawns and public spaces can be carried down a storm drain - pet waste, litter, plant debris and other items.  Thanks for helping keep places clean.  Stop in for the discussion Thursday morning.  We'll supply free bagel bites.   You don't need to have attended any of the previous discussions to attend this one. 

-Posted by Wendy Grethen

A better approach to washing cars

Wash and water tend to go together.   Our vehicles get dirty and when it comes time that we want to clean it up many of us pull out our hose and soap to make our car shine.  An important reminder regarding washing a car is that the soap and water will flow down the nearest storm drain.  In Superior most of the drains go directly out to a stream or lake.  That means soap goes to our streams or lakes.  

What can you do?  Wash your car on your lawn rather than on the pavement will make a big difference in how much soapy water would enter a nearby stream or Lake Superior. 

A friend of mine mentioned a product that she came across promoting a way to wash your car without water.  I looked on the internet and there are several products available.

Eco Touch is one of the waterless car wash products.  You basically spray it on and wipe it off, like a window spray. 
In this case you are using essentially no water (conserving water) and not creating polluted runoff.

 

 

If you still think water needs to be part of washing a car a great option is to go to a local car wash.  Their drains are setup to clean the water.  The high-pressure water gives your car a good cleaning and your car will shine - at least for awhile until dirt, bugs, or bird droppings 'adorn' your car once again.

 

Cars also can be a source of pollution to water via leaks.  Keep your car maintained.  No one wants to see either the rainbow from soap or the rainbow from oil heading to a storm drain.  Let's keep the rainbow in the sky only.  

 

Posted by Wendy