If your home or business is located on the map to the right, you are in the Rock River Basin. As part of this basin, you are connected to all the other communities through the water that flows off your home, car or street. Pollution does not just come from large industrial factories or plants. Small amounts of pollutants and chemicals from all over a town can add up to big problems for local waters.

Dog waste left on your lawn can be flushed into the street stormdrain and into a lake where people swim and fish. When pesticides are used to kill bugs in your garden, these chemicals can also harm animals in nearby streams.

Photo from UW-Extension