ISSUE
Common, everyday chemicals such as motor oil, gasoline, paint and thinners, waxes, and nail-polish remover are toxics known as hazardous waste. All of these chemicals can make their way to Long Island Sound and result in the death or poison of creatures ranging from invaluable microscopic soil bacteria to beautiful harbor seals. Thinking before purchasing and proper disposal are two easy ways to ensure that your everyday hazardous wastes do not result in further degrading of the Sound.
How can my paint harm plants and animals living in the water?

PROBLEM
These chemicals and solvents contain many harmful ingredients, including lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, lithium, zinc, manganese, nickel, and bromide which can poison and kill plants, animals, and other organisms, leading to an imperiled natural environment and threatened human health.

Okay, I knew that these kinds if chemicals were toxic, but how do they get all the way to the Sound from my house?

Methods of Travel:

FROM THE GROUND…
One of the most common causes of chemical pollution is improper disposal. Otherwise, well-intended individuals dump chemicals, oil, gasoline, and paint thinners on the ground. This is not good for the ground or the Sound and it is illegal!

Anything dumped on the ground will travel over or through the ground and then downhill to gutters, storm drains, ponds and streams, until they arrive in your local bay or harbor and then to the Sound.

FROM THE SINK…
Anything dumped in the sink or toilet bowl flows directly to either your septic system or a town sewage plant. These systems are designed to treat human waste like feces; neither of these systems can properly treat household chemicals, which pass through into ground water or your bay, harbor, or the Sound.

FROM LEAKS…
Another route for these chemicals is from leaking machinery, especially autos: cars, sport utility vehicles, and trucks. Engine fluids drip on the ground and you know the rest…it goes in the Sound. Engines that appear to be dripping just a few drops of oil, gas, antifreeze, or transmission fluid can leak gallons in a year…this adds up!! While most people think that large oil tanker spills constitutes the bulk of oil contamination, the fact is that only 5% of marine pollution comes from such spills. It is the leaky oil pan on an automobile, the home oil change that washes spills down the storm drain, and overall improper disposal that causes 95% of the water contamination caused by oil. Only one quart of oil can contaminate up to two million gallons of drinking water!

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