Car Washing & Repair | Painting & Furniture Stripping | Housecleaning & Window Washing
Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning | Concrete, Masonry, and Asphalt Repair
Pool/Spa Maintenance | Lawn & Garden Care and Pest Control
Cleaning up spills if they do happen

 Car Washing & Repair

If you do the work yourself:

• Don’t wash cars on a driveway or street where soapy water may flow to a storm drain. Wash on a lawn or unpaved surface. Dispose of leftover soapy water in a sink or toilet, not the street, driveway, or storm drain.
• If you change your own oil or antifreeze, recycle it! Never dump oil or any auto fluid onto the ground or into a storm drain or creek.
• Repair leaking vehicles promptly to help keep fluids off streets and out of storm drains. Soak up leaks and spills with an absorbent such as cat litter.
• For more information, click here.

If you hire someone:

• Use a commercial car wash where water is recycled.
• Make sure mobile auto detailers use spill containment aids such as drop cloths when working in a street or driveway, and dispose of all wastewater in a sink, not the storm drain.
• Be sure your auto service center recycles oil and antifreeze, and follows shop cleanup practices that protect water quality.

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If you do the work yourself:

• Never clean brushes or rinse paint containers into a street, gutter, storm drain, or creek.
• Clean latex paint from brushes and containers in a sink. Filter, settle, and reuse thinners and solvents for oil-based paints.
• Dispose of unusable paints and thinners, thinner residue, and paint strippers at a household hazardous waste collection event.
• Empty, dry paint cans may go in household garbage, or they may be recycled in your city. Remove paint can lids before disposal.

If you hire someone:

• Make sure that painting contractors clean brushes and containers and dispose of paint residues properly - never in the street or storm drain.
• Professional painters must dispose of leftover paints and solvents as hazardous waste.
• Contractors should use plastic sheeting or a dropcloth to collect chips and dust from non-hazardous dry stripping and sand blasting. Then sweep up and dispose of debris as trash.

Housecleaning & Window Washing

If you do the work yourself:

• Send dirty cleaning water down a sink or toilet, not into a street, gutter, or storm drain.
• Make sure trash can lids are tightly closed and recyclables are secured to prevent materials from blowing onto the ground.

If you hire someone:

• Make sure people you hire understand that storm drains flow to the creeks and Bay with no treatment- so they won’t dump anything into the street, gutter, or storm drain.
• Make sure people you hire dispose of potentially toxic materials properly.

 Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning

If you do the work yourself:

• Dispose of dirty cleaning solution down a sink or toilet, not in the street or storm drain.

 If you hire someone:

• Ask professional carpet cleaners where they empty their tanks. Make sure they don’t use the storm drain.
• Professionals should dispose of cleaning solutions down a sink or toilet, or return to their company for disposal to the sanitary sewer.

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Concrete, Masonry, and Asphalt Repair

If you do the work yourself:

• Set up and operate small mixers on heavy tarps or dropcloths.
• Plan ahead, mix only as much concrete, mortar, or plaster as you need that day.
• Hose down mixers, tools, and trailers in a dirt area where rinse water won’t run into a creek or gutter.
• Clean up with a broom, not a hose! Or wash fine particles onto a dirt area- not into a street or gutter.
• Apply driveway sealants when no rain is forecast. Sweep first to prepare. Handle sealants with care and follow label directions.

If you hire someone:

• Explain to your concrete contractor that rinsing trucks or equipment in the street or near a storm drain endangers wildlife in our creeks and Bay- and it’s illegal! Make sure your concrete contractor:

1. Establishes a cleanup area before starting work.
2. Minimizes use of water in cleanup.
3. Rinses equipment on an isolated dirt area, away from streets or creeks. Or places a wheelbarrow under the chute and/or other equipment to catch rinsewater, and wheels it to a dirt area for disposal.
4. Rinses exposed aggregate onto a dirt area.

 If you do the work yourself:

• Control algae by regulating chlorine levels and by using a pool cover to block sunlight. DO NOT use copper-based algae control products.
• Always discharge pool or spa water to a sanitary sewer line cleanout. Never discharge pool or spa water to a creek, street, or storm drain.
• Dispose of filter rinsewater and backwash into soil, not the gutter, creek, or storm drain.

If you hire someone:

• Make sure your pool service contractor is not using copper products in your pool, and not disposing of filter backwash where it can run off to a storm drain.
• Make sure acid-wash rinsewater is neutralized before it is pumped to the sewer line cleanout. Call your wastewater treatment plant for guidance.

• Make sure no leaves or blown or raked into the street or gutter. Collect yard waste for composting.
• Limit fertilizer applications to twice a year and limit application of all chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.
• For more information, click here.

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