Watch for yellow fish popping up on Bristol Road in Porcupine.
Next Tuesday, August 13th, Friends of the Porcupine River Watershed will be painting yellow fish from stencils at every storm drain on that stretch of road.
It’s part of an initiative by the organization “Trout Unlimited Canada” to draw attention to the damage done by dumping stuff other than rain down those drains.
Friends of the Watershed president Brenda Torresan says there are 22 drains on Bristol Road.
“We would like to think that just the rain water goes down those drains, but it doesn’t,” Torresan explains. “People use it to have their soaps and everything when they’re washing their vehicles go down the drain. Things like cigarette butts, even animal feces and things like that.”
…And it all ends up in the water system.
Torresan sympathizes with people who like to wash their own cars.
“It’s really tough. The further away you are from the water system, the better it is. However, we would encourage people to use the car wash systems that are available in the city.”
Torresan says commercial car washes filter the waste water. And she says you can buy environmentally friendly soap, if you prefer to wash your car yourself.