The community-based program will help keep street drains clear of leaves and debris to prevent local neighborhood flooding.
Wet weather has arrived, and Seattle and six other Puget Sound Cities are joining forces to encourage their residents to adopt a local storm drain. Drain adopters can sign up to keep their storm drain clear of leaves and debris.
“By caring for your local storm drain, you can help prevent localized flooding and reduce debris in our drainage system and waterways. This helps you, your neighbors, your utility, and our local waters,”
said Susan Harper, manager of the Adopt-A-Drain (AAD) program for Seattle.
Customers in participating cities, including Seattle, Tacoma, Redmond, Duvall, Newcastle, Maple Valley, and Sammamish, can sign up to adopt a drain—and name their drain– at ADOPT-A-DRAIN.ORG/WA .
Early adopters have embraced drain naming, with favorites like Hermione Drainger, Sir Drains A lot, Midnight Drain to Georgia, Drainasaurus, and Singing in the Drain.
Drain adopters also report their clean-up work online, which helps participating cities see how residents are making a difference.
This Adopt-A-Drain model was launched five years ago by the Watershed Partners of the Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area. That program currently has more than 8800 participants who have adopted 16,000 drains and collected 350,000 pounds of debris.
Participating Puget Sound cities hope to engage more than 1,000 adopters in the first year. This regional effort gives communities more tools to prevent localized flooding, protect waterways, look out for their neighbors, help their local utility, and understand changing rainfall patterns.
Learn more and sign up at ADOPT-A-DRAIN.ORG/WA.