More than 100 volunteers took their painting skills to Allied Gardens streets Saturday, canvasing the neighborhood with anti-pollution messages above storm drains.
The volunteers, led by Think Blue San Diego and I Love A Clean San Diego, swarmed Allied Gardens Park for Storm Drain Stencilling Day and worked throughout the day to spray paint the signs and pick up trash.
You’ve seen the messages before. Friendly, stenciled reminders that water, and pollutants, don’t just disappear once they fall beneath the sidewalk.
Now, bright blue paint reads “No dumping - Leads to Ocean” in English and Spanish over a white background above area drains with a reminder to “Think Blue”.
“Pollution prevention at the point of our storm drains is very important,” said Anthony Santacroce, a Senior Public Information Officer with the City of San Diego. “Unlike our waste water system, our storm water system isn’t hooked up to any filters, any treatment plants or anything like that. Whatever goes down the storm drains eventually makes its way to our watershed, our receiving waters and to the ocean.
Santacroce says that stenciling pollution-prevention messages on the storm drains provides a colorful aesthetic to neighborhoods, and also reminds people that they are in charge of keeping pollution out of our storm drains.
It was estimated that volunteers would be able to paint about 90 signs by the end of the day, according to Lauren Short, Community Program Manager at I Love A Clean San Diego. Short says on average, the Storm Drain Stenciling Day program is responsible for nearly 1,000 storm drain signs every year.
