SOAK Up the Rain

What is Soak Up The Rain Brentwood? SoakUp The Rain Brentwood is a voluntary program with the goal of protecting and restoring clean water in the Exeter River and ultimately the Great Bay estuary.The program is designed to help homeowners reduce the stormwater runoff from their properties that carries pollutants into our local streams and rivers.Polluted stormwater is a primary cause of water pollution problems in New Hampshire.

Stormwater runoff is water from rain or melting snow that doesn’t soak into the ground.Impervious surfaces like roofs, driveways, decks and patios, sidewalks, androads prevent the water from naturally soaking into the ground. The stormwater running across these impervious surfaces pick up debris, chemicals, dirt and other pollutants and goes directly into our streams and rivers and eventually into Great Bay. These pollutants are untreated and go directly into the water we use for swimming, fishing, and drinking water.

Why is reducing stormwater pollution important? The Great Bay has been declared impaired under the Federal Clean Water Act for having too much nitrogen. Nitrogen comes from many sources including human and animal waste, fertilizers, and natural processes. All the communities in the Seacoast are working together to try and solve this problem but we need everyone’s help.The larger cities and towns like Exeter and Newmarket are faced with huge costs to upgrade their waste water treatment plants and improve their stormwater management. But all towns, including Brentwood, will have to reduce the pollutants coming from their town. This program is designed to help Brentwood voluntarily do its share towards solving the water quality problem in the Great Bay and hopefully avoid costlier solutions later. 

What can you do to help reduce stormwater pollution? Simple activities such as maintaining your septic system, minimizing fertilizer use, picking up pet waste, and properly disposing of household products that contain chemicals such as insecticides, pesticides, paint, solvents, and used motor oil all will reduce water pollution. You can install a rain barrel, rain garden, dry well or other DIY stormwater practice on your property to reduce stormwater runoff.

Visit our downloads page to get the Pollution Reduction Brochure for Landowners.

SOAK_brochure_brentwood_1.7.15.pdf