Most of us enjoy the lake from time to time for recreational activities- all of us enjoy the lake for clean water, and the choices we are making everyday have an impact of the health of the lake.
Here are some easy things you can do to ensure we get to kayak, swim, fish, ect, and drink clean water for years to come.
The David Suzuki Foundation has identified a list called the Dirty Dozen. Ingredients found in household cleaners and personal care products that are not filtered out by treatment plants or septic systems and go directly back into our water table, adversely effecting the whole natural system of our lakes. Switching to 'eco' labelled soaps, detergents, cleaners, and personal care products is one of the best ways to keep chemicals out of our water. These products have gone way down in price and way up in effectiveness in the last few years.
Learn how to clean your home with vinegar here.
Hate weeds in the lake? Don't they just seem to keep getting worse? That is because fertilizers used on lawns take their natural course into our water table and make their way into the lake, feeding the weeds, not just your grass. Also weed killers kill off beneficial organisms and pollute natural systems. Check out these natural lawn care ideas. Consider a natural shoreline if you have a lake front property- everybody is doing it!
Nothing goes better with fishing (or most lakeside activities) than beer and smokes, but just as smoking is bad for us, butt's are bad for the water- makes sense right, you wouldn't drink a beer after it had a butt in it, so why would we want our fish swimming around in it. It isn't just butt's being thrown directly into the lakes either, it is littering butt's anywhere. In the city streets they make their way into the storm water that in most cases is untreated and heads right back to the lake. Same idea in the country only they travel with the water in the ditch. Use an ashtray in your car, your fish hut, your dock, and your pocket if needed- and don't blame anybody else when there is not an ashtray, it is still your garbage. 1 cigarette butt contaminates 1 litre of water!
Most of us live here because of the lakes, people cottage here because of the lakes, people plan trips here because of the lakes, and they eat at our local restaurants and use our local services because of the lakes. Our quality of life here in Kawartha Lakes depends on healthy, swimable, drinkable water bodies.
Let us give back to the lakes-
they give so much to us!
All of the stunning local images in this post were taken by Jerry Holder- @coolhandjer follow him on twitter to check out his other breathtaking photos!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Julia Taylor
@sogreenithurts
No comments:
Post a Comment