Bradley County Stormwater Program

🚧🌧️ SPOT THE BMP! 👀💧
Next time you pass a construction site, take a look around — you may notice special tools and practices designed to protect our waterways!

Which of these helps keep mud and pollution out of storm drains during construction?
🟡 Silt fences
🟢 Straw wattles
🔵 Inlet protection
🔴 Stabilized construction entrances

👉 Think you know the answer? Hint: It’s ALL of them! 😄

Construction Best Management Practices (BMPs) are used to:
✅ Reduce erosion
✅ Control sediment runoff
✅ Protect creeks and streams
✅ Improve water quality in our community

💬 QUESTION:
Have you ever seen one of these BMPs around town? Tell us where in the comments (without sharing unsafe or potentially restricted site access photos)!

Small protections on construction sites make a BIG difference for clean water and safer neighborhoods. 🌎💦

🌧️ 🌧️STORMWATER: MYTH vs. FACT 💧💧

Think you know stormwater? Let’s test it! 👇

❌ MYTH: Water going into storm drains gets cleaned at a treatment plant.
✅ FACT: In many communities, storm drains flow directly into nearby creeks, rivers, and streams carrying pollutants with them. Bradley County does not have a stormwater treatment facility.

❌ MYTH: Only large factories pollute stormwater.
✅ FACT: Everyday activities like littering, over-fertilizing lawns, washing cars on pavement, and leaking vehicle fluids can all impact water quality.

❌ MYTH: Stormwater pollution only matters when it rains hard.
✅ FACT: Even small rain events can wash pollutants into local waterways.

❌ MYTH: One person can’t make a difference.
✅ FACT: Small actions from everyone like picking up trash, cleaning up pet waste, and properly disposing of chemicals help protect our water resources!

🌧️🌧️QUESTION🌧️🌧️
What’s one stormwater myth you believed before learning more about it? Share below! ⬇️

Together, we can keep our waterways cleaner and our community healthier. 💧🌱

All that grass... imagine even just a small portion dedicated to wild flowers and native grasses. The benefits are worth the effort, and reduced mowing. Did you know that a pollinator garden can also work as a rain garden and help soak up excessive stormwater runoff?

Ever look at a perfectly manicured green lawn and realize... nothing is happening out there? No buzzing, no butterflies, no life.

While a manicured turf lawn might look neat, it's essentially an ecological desert. 🏜️
Most lawn grasses aren't native, and keeping them short means they never flower or provide food. For our local wildlife, a massive lawn is like driving through a city with no grocery stores or restaurants.

But swap even a fraction of that grass for a native pollinator garden, and everything changes! 🌸🐝

Learn more about TEC's Pollinator Initiative "Generate Some Buzz" here: https://www.tectn.org/generatesomebuzz.html

🌧️ What is a SCM (Stormwater Control Measure)? 🌿

Ever notice how rainwater rushes off roads, roofs, and parking lots during a storm? Without proper management, that runoff can carry pollutants, cause flooding, and erode streams. That’s where SCMs come in!

A Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) is a system or practice designed to capture, slow down, filter, or absorb stormwater runoff before it reaches our waterways.

Examples of SCMs include:
✅ Rain gardens
✅ Detention or retention ponds
✅ Bioswales
✅ Permeable pavement
✅ Underground stormwater systems

SCMs help:
💧 Reduce flooding
🌎 Improve water quality
🌱 Protect streams and wildlife
🏘️ Keep our communities safer and more resilient

Next time you see a pond near a neighborhood or plants designed into a parking lot, you just might be looking at a stormwater control measure working to protect your community and the environment!