Overview

There are three things that you can do:

  1. Conserve
  2. Don’t Pollute
  3. Soak it Up

Conserve Simply put, use less water.  We rely on clean water for drinking, bathing, washing and cooking.  The average American consumes about 85 gallons of water each day.  It costs a Lancaster City resident $3.16/1,000 gallons for clean water that comes into your home and $1.02/1,000 gallons to clean the water once you have used it.  Using less water saves money.  What comes in, must go out!

Don’t Pollute Keeping the water as clean as it can be before it enters the combined sewer system is another simple step we can all take. Don’t use harsh chemicals or detergents at home, don’t dump or throw anything in the stormwater inlets along the streets, pick up your pet waste, check and repair automotive leaks. Keep it clean!

Soak it Up There is a lot of pavement in Lancaster City.  In fact, 31 percent of the City is covered in parking lots alone and another 42% is covered by buildings. Doing whatever we can to allow rainwater to soak into the ground is a good thing by redirecting rainwater to green spaces, removing concrete and/or pavement and planting trees and native shrubs.

Living in certain parts of the City, you might have very few options to allow rainwater to soak into the ground in which case you might need to temporarily hold rainwater in a cistern or rain barrel for reuse slowly releasing it back into the combined sewer system when it is no longer raining.

To help get you started conserving, keeping it clean or soaking it up, click on a link below: