What you can do

Here are some ways you can help clean the Hudson River from your own backyard right now:

• Allow rainwater to soak into the soil by limiting pavement. Use vegetation, gravel and paving stones with spaces between and other permeable surfaces wherever possible. Permeable pavements are also available.
• Keep your soil loose. Rainwater will run off the surface of compacted soil as though it were pavement.
• Plant a rain garden. A rain garden collects rainwater and allows it to slowly seep into the soil. Rain gardens are often located near a downspout or paved area. In the Special Natural Area District, you may not change the grade of your landscape by more than two vertical feet without a review by the City Planning Commission. Keep this restriction in mind when planning your rain garden.
• Reduce fertilizers and herbicides. Use compost or other slow-release organic fertilizers; leave grass clippings on your lawn; and only apply herbicides and pesticides when you actually see a problem, not as a preventative.
• Plant a low-maintenance garden. It will need less water, fertilizer and insect and weed control.
• Keep slopes planted.
• Never pour toxics such as oil or paint thinner into the street or down a storm drain. Call 311 to find out how to dispose of them properly.
• When washing outdoor items such as lawn furniture or your car, use a biodegradable soap such as castile soap, or consider the advice of city Department of Sanitation and use “products with food-grade acids as replacements for hazardous mineral acids such as hydrochloric, sulfuric and others.”
• Collect rainwater in a barrel or other container, and use it to water your plants.

This is part of the January 15, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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