What You Can Do
- VOLUNTEER WITH GWC.
- Support GWC. Help us use the watershed approach to advocate for a healthy watershed, a greenbelt park and living streams. Please join our email list – sign up on our website
- Donate to GWC. We gratefully accept your tax-deductive money as well as other donations (e.g. certificates, giveaways).
- Don’t litter. Garbage, especially plastic bottles and bags, can wash into the creek and the bay, harming wildlife. Plus it’s ugly. Recycle or dispose of all trash in a can with a tightly fitted lid. For extra points, pick up trash you see lying around. The creek will thank you!
- Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveway, deck or patio.
- Don’t use lawn/garden chemicals, herbicides or pesticides.
These frequently end up in the creek after running off the property. MCSTOPPP has a good list of effective and safe alternatives to toxic products. Try their Quiz to see how Watershed Friendly you are!
- Do NOT wash your car in the driveway or on the street. Soap flows down drains to creek where it harms wildlife. A commercial car wash uses 100 gallons less water per car than a home wash, and, in may cases, professional car wash facilities also reuse and recycle the rinse water. Use a car wash facility that recycles water.
- Prevent pollution: never dump oil, fuel or other foreign substances into the drain or the soil.
- Catch rainwater on-site.
Rainwater is FREE! Catch rainwater in barrels. Use permeable pavement whenever possible to let water percolate into the soil during rains. Your garden will love it. Water captured in the ground slowly moves down into the creeks and streams, keeping them flowing even in dry months.
- Use greywater (recycled water) for your garden
- Don’t flush medications down the toilet. Wastewater treatment plants cannot remove all pharmaceuticals drugs. These chemicals then end up in San Pablo Bay. Local pharmacies will take back old/expired drugs and dispose of them properly. Twice a year Marin County holds pharmaceutical take back programs.
- Your toilet is not a garbage can! Do NOT flush these items down the toilet:
cleaning wipes, disposable toilet scrubs detached from a plastic wand, diapers, dental floss, feminine products, rags, toys and cooking grease. This causes backups into your house causing health issues and property. Later it will cause sanitary sewer overflows allowing sewage to enter the Bay untreated.
- Do NOT use antibacterial soap. Antibacterial soaps contain TRICLOSAN, an ingredient that harms the environment and wildlife.
- Prevent and report water waste.
- Calculate your water footprint. Use their H2O Calculator to find out how much water you use at home.
- Find and repair leaks NOW.
- Eliminate all landscape irrigation run-off.
- Cover pools and hot-tubs to reduce evaporation.
- Use front-load washing machines. They are more efficient and save money on water and energy.
- Run the dishwasher and clothes washer with full loads only. Save water and energy!
Never plant invasive non-native plants. This includes iceplant, cordgrass, pepperweed, giant reed and beachgrass.- Support and participate in restoration programs, for example those that remove invasive non-native plants.
- Do NOT feed wildlife, including ducks and other birds.
- Tell your friends and neighbors!
