Tips to help manage the stormwater in your community:

Boating

• Safely dispose of boating trash on land.

• Don’t discharge boat sewage into the bays.  

• Marina owners: make it easy for boaters to clean out holding tanks and safely dispose of other boating waste.

• Cigarette butts are litter and can take up to 10 years to decompose.

• Use portable ashtrays.

• Follow Sarasota County’s fertilizer ordinance.

• Use only as much fertilizer as you need.

• Don’t fertilize during rainy season.

• Homeowner associations: make sure your landscape company is IFAS-certified.

• Sarasota County has three hazardous waste disposal sites: Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota, Jackson Road in Venice and at the landfill in Nokomis.

• Associations: make it easy for residents to dispose of hazardous waste properly

 NEST

• In Sarasota County, Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Teams (NESTs) identify environmental projects to enhance the watershed in their own neighborhoods.

• Choose Florida-friendly plants, grasses.

• Remove invasive species.

• Limit turf grass to 50 percent of usable land.

Waterfront landscaping 

• Create plant buffers along the water.

• Choose plants that will slow runoff, filter rainfall and soak up nutrients and pollutants.

Lawn maintenance

• Leave grass clippings on the lawn.

• Don’t throw grass clippings in streets or storm sewers. 

• Everyone can volunteer with Keep Sarasota County Beautiful (KSCB).

• Homeowner associations: create and participate in your own neighborhood clean-ups.

• Decrease the amount of water leaving your property through bioswale retention areas, rain barrels, cisterns, green roofs and pervious surfaces.

• Builder/developers: don’t clear-cut and pack soil.

Businesses

Join the Green Business Partnership, this county-sponsored program encourages environmental stewardship and recognizes businesses that make an extra effort to operate in an environmentally responsible manner.   

Water use / Conservation

 Indoors

• Everyone:  

  • Turn off the tap to brush your teeth; shorten showers; use full loads for laundry and dishes; 
    maintain toilets and faucets; repair leaks.

  • Install low-flow fixtures and toilets.

• Businesses: use only as much as you need; instruct employees on water conservation; conduct water use audits; maintain equipment and plumbing; check for leaks.

• Builder/developers: design and build with water-conserving fixtures (e.g., low flow toilets). 

• Everyone:

  • Follow adopted water restrictions; use timers on your sprinkler systems.

  • Turn off sprinklers when it rains.

  • Skip a week of irrigation during the dry season; install drought-tolerant landscape plants and lawn grasses.

  • Use rain barrels or cisterns for watering.

• Homeowner associations: provide water use and water conservation tips to new members, particularly new residents from out of state.

• Businesses: install and maintain drought-tolerant landscape plants and lawns. Instruct your employees about ways to conserve water; it may also help reduce your costs.

• Builders/developers: design communities and homes using drought-tolerant landscape features; install low-flow fixtures, use reclaimed water systems (where available) for irrigation of golf courses and community landscape areas; design facilities to capture stormwater for re-use. 

Environmental Education

We offer environmental education for residents, businesses, and students. We can provide speakers and educational materials focusing on the following topics:

• Water quality (surface water, ground water, stormwater)
• Watersheds
• Illicit discharges
• Pollution prevention
• National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permitting
• Storm Drain Marking Program