My River Starts Here in April

Throughout the month of April, the Richland County Stormwater Management and the City of Columbia Stormwater Department are hosting their My River Starts Here Campaign. April is Storm Drain Marking Month, and throughout the month community members are reminded to keep stormwater clean and encouraged to volunteer to mark storm drains in their neighborhoods. The goal is to reduce pollution entering local waterways through public education and outreach. Local waterways—creeks, streams, lakes and rivers—are affected by pollutants in water flowing from local storm drains. The water flowing from storm drains does not get treated or cleaned. Any pollutants that go into a storm drain flow directly into waterways. These stormwater pollutants negatively affect water quality for people, fish and animals.

Storm drain markers are visual reminders to city and county residents that storm drains flow directly to local waterways. The City of Columbia and Richland County is using weatherproof medallions with the image of a fish and water, along with “No Dumping/Drains to River” stamped in large letters.

For more information, visit MyRiverStartsHere.org.