As the weather in Hampton Roads warms up and we begin to stretch our green thumbs, don’t forget to include your private sewer lateral and water line connection in your landscape plan. Since they are buried below ground most of the time it’s “out of sight, out of mind” but a little planning ahead can save you a lot of money later.

Before planting new trees or shrubs, locate your sanitary sewer cleanout and sanitary sewer lateral. Avoid planting any trees or shrubs directly over your lateral and, if you can, provide a clear zone on either side. Roots see a sanitary sewer lateral as a highly nutritious water source and will find their way inside it causing blockages and backups while growing.  Most people do not realize that once passed the sanitary sewer cleanout or meter box, they are the owners of the sanitary sewer lateral and water line and as the owner they are responsible for all maintenance and repairs, even at two o’clock in the morning when your sewer is backing up!  Talk to your local landscape expert to identify trees and shrubs with less evasive root systems and plant them away from your sanitary sewer lateral to help avoid future problems.

Your sanitary sewer cleanout and water meter box also need to be accessible to your local water and sewer utility worker; this helps when they need to provide maintenance or repairs. They are usually located near the right of way along your front property line; don’t bury them or place plantings to cover them. Knowing where your utility connections are can help you be better prepared in case of a back-up or break and helps you take preventative steps to avoid costly repairs in the future.

This article was contributed by Katherine Nixon, P.E.  from the City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Utilities.

Today marks the 43rd Earth Day celebration, a time for us to reflect on the wonders of the natural environment. We have so much to be thankful for in Hampton Roads: our local waterways and beaches, neighborhood parks, clean, safe drink water, wildlife, and more! There are many ways for you to keep the spirit of Earth Day alive in your everyday life. Here are a couple suggestions:

- Volunteer for a clean up project near you as part of this spring’s Great American Cleanup

- Recycle more and trash less

- Choose tap water over bottled water

- Join your local watershed restoration group

- Transform your yard into an Eco-Avenger

We hope you take some time this month and every month to let Mother Earth, and your community, know how much you care. Happy Earth Day!

Spring activities took off in a dead sprint this year. Have you seen our calendar listings lately? Here’s a preview of this weekend’s Great American Cleanup^TM and Earth Day events. Which ones will you check out?

Saturday 4/20

• Chesapeake: Arbor Day Tree Planting – Tree planting at Chesapeake Arboretum.
• Hampton: International Children’s Festival - Children’s festival at Mill Point Park.
• James City County: Annual Spring Cleanup, James City County – Cleanup sites throughout James City County.
• James City County: James Riverfest – Area-wide cleanup, competitive paddle race, fun and educational activities for children, food, live music, and a wide variety of vendors and environmental booths. 
• Newport News: Earth Day at the Virginia Living Museum – Native plant sale, computer and jet ink cartridge recycling, book collection and more.
• Newport News: Rain Barrel Workshop – Build your own rain barrel and save resources while keeping your plants beautiful.
• Poquoson: Keep Poquoson Beautiful – Community beautification events.
• Portsmouth: PrettyUp Portsmouth – City-wide beautification projects and shredding, electronics recycling and household hazardous waste collection at the Civic Center parking lot on Water Street behind the former courts building and next to Portsmouth City Hall.
• Portsmouth: Global Youth Service Day at Hoffler Creek – Projects at Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve.
• Suffolk: Global Youth Service Day – Beautification projects, recycling, community clean-ups, food drives, feeding the homeless and caring for the elderly amongst various city parks and common areas.
• Virginia Beach: Earth Day at Mt. Trashmore Park – Events include electronics recycling, rain barrel building workshops, music, information booths and more.
• Virginia Beach: Lynnhaven River NOW Oyster Roast – Enjoy Lynnhaven River aquacultured oysters, oyster stew, BBQ, brisket, beer, wine and more.

Sunday 4/21

• Norfolk: Pedal Up to Clean Up - Litter cleanup event with the Tidewater Cycling Association.

Do you still need some inspiration to get you energized to join a project? Here are a couple summaries from recent events.

Virginia Beach

The City of Virginia Beach, with the help of over 125 local volunteers, collected waste and debris from the 17th Street Corridor near the oceanfront on Saturday, March 23, as part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup (GAC). GAC is the country’s largest annual cleanup, beautification and community improvement program, drawing millions of volunteers in over 15,000 communities each year. This year, Virginia Beach volunteers worked at the wooded lot between 17th Street and 19th Street, beside North Birdneck Road. They removed more than 350 bags of trash plush bulky items, totaling nearly 5 tons of waste and debris.

The enthusiastic response did not stop there as many of our residents took the city’s Community Challenge and organized cleanups of their own in their neighborhoods. For example, members of Knights of Columbs Kempsville Council 10515 completed cleanup of Kempsville Road from Indian River Road to Centerville Turnpike, and Candice Nesbitt organized a cleanup for Sangaree Circle.

This 2nd annual event was a multi-departmental initiative coordinated by the Departments of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, Police, Human Services, and the Office of Volunteer Resources. The city worked with Virginia Beach Clean Community Commission, askHRgreen.org, Keep Virginia Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful to continue building an even cleaner, more sustainable city.

Information submitted by Linda Minner, City of Virginia Beach Recycling Coordinator and askHRgreen.org team member.

Newport News

On a rainy Friday, April 12 2013 some 50 employees of Crestline Hotels and Resorts set out to conduct a community service clean up in conjunction with the Great American Clean Up. They spent over 3 hours and removed over 60 bags of litter and debris from the wooded areas surrounding City Center in Newport News. Crestline hotels has facilities from Stanford Connecticut to Jacksonville Florida. They came to Newport News as part of an annual management conference for staff. The Hosting facility this year was the Marriott at City Center in Newport News, one of our first hospitality facilities to achieve Virginia Green Status.

Their Hotels locally including the Marriott at City Center in Newport News have embraced recycling and sustainability boasting recycling and the use of recycled materials in their facilities and practices. They are working with the Newport News Resource Recovery office to develop system wide approaches to better handle waste, recycling and using more recycled products in their facilities.

The hours of dedicated work on a rainy day by so many people speaks volumes about our partnership with Crestline hotels and Resorts and their commitment to the community.

Information submitted by Dan Baxter, Business Recycling Coordinator for the City of Newport News and askHRgreen.org team member.

Subscribers to The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press received a treat in today’s paper: the second annual edition of askHRgreen.org’s Green Living. The guide lets you explore our watershed and see why the time to improve our region’s water quality is at hand; go beyond the big blue bin and examine the business of recycling; learn tips for keeping a “green” yard from a true garden guru; follow the path of water through our vast (and often forgotten) infrastructure; and learn why it’s time to “break up” with a common household appliance.

In case you missed it, below is a quick link to the digital version for your viewing pleasure. We hope you enjoy Green Living, learn something new, and share it with friends!

Read Green Living.

Did you know…

• Approximately 400 billion gallons of water are used in the United States per day.
• American residents use about 100 gallons of water per day. At 50 gallons per day, residential Europeans use about half of the water that residential Americans use. And residents of sub-Saharan Africa use only 2-5 gallons of water per day.
• The average faucet flows at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. You can save up to four gallons of water every morning by turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth.
• A running toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water per day.
• At 1 drip per second, a faucet can leak 3,000 gallons per year.

That’s why we, as residents of Hampton Roads need to do our part to conserve water and energy. Be part of the Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation and make your pledge to reduce your water consumption at www.mywaterpledge.com between now and the end of April. If your city has the highest percentage of participating residents taking the pledge, you’ll be entered to win great prizes – like a Toyota Hybrid Prius, Rainbird home watering kits, Lowe’s gift cards, and more. We are all in this together! Happy Earth Month!