Rockland County Warns Against Dumping Into Catch Basins

Rockland Daily Staff

Dumping unwanted pollutants into Rockland County's catch basins will not make your problem disappear but will instead impact your health and drinking water supply as those catch basins do not lead to treatment plants. Instead, they lead directly to local waterways. 

Water Quality and Stormwater Education, a project of the Stormwater Consortium of Rockland County, is designed to protect Rockland's waterways and drinking water sources for generations to come. Educating the public that everything that flows over the surface in Rockland County will soak into the ground or flow to surface waters where our drinking water comes from and where we enjoy water recreation is an important tool to keep our water clean. A significant amount of Rockland County's drinking water comes from underground aquifers. Other sources of Rockland's drinking water come from streams, lakes, or rivers above ground (such as Lake DeForest) that is treated at a Water Treatment Plan.

Treatment processes cannot remove all pollutants; therefore, what enters our local waters is what locals end up drinking. Keeping our waterways clean has tremendous health benefits as well as benefits for drinking water supplies, property, and recreational waterways. 

In order to protect local water for everyone, there are regulations regarding stormwater, how your activities impact your water quality, and how you can improve water quality and stormwater runoff. 

To learn more, click on the following links. 

Stormwater Consortium of Rockland County (SCRC): Stormwater & Water Quality Interactive Map (2022)

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation- DECinfo Locator

NYSDEC Database of SPDES and MSGP Permits

See the NYSDEC's interactive map here to access available documents and public data pertaining to environmental quality. This interactive map lets you view and download water permits, water quality data, and further information.