No matter where citizens live, whether on the coast or inland, their daily actions directly influence the health of Sarasota Bay. We’re all interconnected through the system of tributaries that link our yards to the Bay.

Some of the water from the land reaches the Bay through the ground, but most of it is carried by creeks and streams via stormwater run-off.  When rainfall washes across the watershed, it collects the debris and residue of our daily lives and becomes stormwater run-off. 

Stormwater carries waste from a host of sources: atmospheric deposition in the rain and pollution that we get from power plants and cars; leachate from septic tanks; run-off from our roads and our driveways and all the pollutants that are on those surfaces; run-off from our yards, which harbor fertilizers and pesticides and pet waste, etc. It’s safe to say that virtually all surface waste ends up down the drain and, in most cases, polluting the Bay.