Extension Service Garden Hints

How to protect water quality in your own backyard

CORVALLIS - Home gardeners can play a crucial role to help protect streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater during the wet part of the year.

The following suggestions to help home gardeners protect water quality are based on recommendations from the Oregon State University Extension Service's Oregon Well Water Program.

Check your property during or after heavy rains for run off. Do you see soil being carried away in little rivulets of surface run off? Avoid leaving bare soil over the winter. Either plant grass or another ground cover or mulch your bare ground with straw, leaves or compost.

Excess nitrogen from fertilizers and manures are common water contaminants. Cover your garden beds with a cover crop or a mulch.

There can be too much of a good thing. Fertilizer in excess of plant uptake can pollute surface and ground water. Plus, it is a waste of money. Do not fertilize in the winter because the plants aren't growing and the heavy rains transport nitrogen below the rooting zone, before spring growth can reach it.

Use straw bales to trap soil at the base of steep slopes, especially if there is bare soil exposed during the wet time of the year.

Install backflow devices to prevent the siphoning of irrigation water back down into a well or into your drinking water supply.

Do not use those spray devices that attach to the end of the hose for fertilizer or pesticides.

Watch for areas where water puddles up. If you have a septic system, make sure that water is not collecting in the drain field area. Do not have gutter down spouts empty in a septic area.

Do not store chemicals in a well pump house.

Refuel mowers, tillers, chain saws and other power equipment on a hard surface at least 100 feet away from surface water or a well. Collect all petroleum products from oil changes and winter drainage of fuel tanks. Check with your local disposal company on proper disposal sites and methods.

Take special care when using fresh manure in your garden because it contains fecal coliform bacteria and nitrogen. Time fresh manure applications as you would with fertilizer. Apply it when the plants are actively growing. Cover manure piles when storing for spring use to prevent leaching from rain. If you are adding manure to other uncomposted organic material such as shredded leaves or sawdust, the process of breaking down the organic material takes up much of the nitrogen, making it less of a threat to water quality.

Practice water conservation, including drip, low-flow irrigation and growing drought tolerant plants in your garden. Let your lawn go dormant (brown) in the summer. It will green up when fall rains return.

The OSU Extension Service's Oregon Well Water Program offers further information on protecting water quality. Visit their website at: http://wellwater.oregonstate.edu.

By: Carol Savonen
Source: Gail Andrews

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