It is fall again in Virginia. The trees are beautiful with red and golden hues. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and fall to the ground. The leaves fall into our yards and regrettably, accumulate in our stormwater drains and ditches. This accumulation of leaves has several adverse effects. Leaves cause “dams” that capture bottles, wrappers and assorted litter that unfortunately abounds in our urban, suburban and rural areas. The litter and leaves clog up our ditches and storm drains causing flooding in the streets when there is even the smallest amount of rainfall. Most, if not all of our communities have areas that are prone to flooding. We don’t need to accentuate the problem by filling our ditches and drains with leaves.
The other effect of these leaf/trash dams is that it can lead to unhealthy situations with insects, rodents and diseases – all increasing the problem of pollution.
So please, rake your leaves out of the ditches and storm drains. You can create large piles of leaves for the young and young at heart to play in, but in the end, please check your local government’s website to learn when leaves will be collected and how they should be stored (bagged or not bagged). Many localities also special storm collections after major storms.
With these simple steps, your health and property will be protected and you will be able to enjoy this beautiful season.
Written by Dennis Carney, Planning & Zoning Administrator, Town of Windsor
It is fall again in Virginia. The trees are beautiful with the red, golden and the many other colorful hues that our trees have. Unfortunately, all good things must end and they fall to the ground. They fall into our yards and regrettably accumulate into our storm-water drains and ditches. This accumulation of leaves has several adverse effects. They cause “dams” of the storm-water channels that capture the litter- bottles, wrappers and assorted trash that unfortunately abound in our urban, suburban and rural areas. These all clog up our ditches and storm-drains causing these channels to overflow when there is even the smallest amount of rainfall. Most if not all of our communities have areas that are prone to flooding. We don’t need to accentuate the problem by filling our ditches and drains with leaves.
The other effect of these leaf/trash dams is, that it can lead to unhealthy situations with insects, rodents proliferating and even diseases occurring and increasing the problem of pollution. The litter problem is large enough, we need not contribute to it with our trees’ leaves.
So please, rack your leaves out of the ditches and storm drains. Create large piles of leaves (even enjoy them by allowing the young and young at heart play in them). But in the end safely remove them. Where legal, the leaves can be safely burnt following the laws regulating burning. In some localities, the leaves need to be taken to the curb for collection by the locality. Please check with your local government as to whether the leaves need to be bagged, when they will be collected and removed by the locality or waste management providers. With these simple steps, your health and property will be protected and you will be able to enjoy this beautiful season.