Got home and noticed the lawn service for the house across the street had blown the grass clipping in the street and/or in the storm drains. I worked for a landscape company several years ago and was under the impression that this is illegal, although I would assume it would fall under a city ordinance. Is this illegal in B/CS?
Blowing grass clippings in the street/storm drain
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105 Replies |
Last: 5 yr ago by TwoMarksHand
what's wrong with that?
I did that one time a few years ago and my roomate got home, angrily got out of his truck, and accused me of being a "street blower." He used to have a lawn business, so I guess there was some reasoning behind it!
umm...that's wrong!
I do it when I don't mulch...
I do it. Then again I mulch so its only the clippings from the weedeater.
what's wrong with blowing grass in the street? I do it all the time.
I have never heard of it being illegal, but i think its a little inconsiderate.
I'm still waiting for a legitimate answer, and "it's wrong" is not one.
well, on a city street, it's just plain inconsiderate of your neighbors.
why?
why is it "wrong" or "inconsiderate" to blow grass clippings into the sewer?
(and in case you wanna go this direction, algore can kiss my ass)
why is it "wrong" or "inconsiderate" to blow grass clippings into the sewer?
(and in case you wanna go this direction, algore can kiss my ass)
From the Chron...
quote:
According to Herman L. Sanders of the Harris County Watershed Protection Group, "Sweeping grass, leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, etc., into a storm drain is cited as a civil solid-waste violation of State Municipal Solid Waste rules, Chapter 330.15 (a)(1). Civil penalties are $50 to $25,000 per day per violation. Criminal penalties, if pursued, are $500 to $100,000 per day per violation."
I think it's inconsiderate. Not sure if it's illegal. I always sweep any mulch clippings and bag them. When I first moved into my house, my neighbor across the street blew his clipplings (FIFY protected) into the street and they were mostly on my side, right in front of the curb. So I went out and swept them and asked him if he wouldn't mind sweeping in front of his house instead of blowing them in front of my lawn. He was real cool, said 'sorry', and he's swept them up ever since.
One of my biggest pet peeves is neighbors that blow clippings into the street, I can't stand it and maybe it's because my old man always made be pick ours up but, I religiously pick up my clippings after finishing yard work. I mean is it really that much effort after your done.
I blow my clippings into the street and I always feel a little guilty about it, so I think it must be wrong.
It's grass people, not trash. It's not even left over food.
yes it is grass and in the next few days if not the next day it will blow away and be gone but, it lazy and trashy looking.
Blowing clippings into the street is inconsiderate. What's even worse is blowing them across the street into the neighbor's yard. A few weeks ago there was a lawn service across the street, and the guy was blowing them into the street, but with the wind, they were clearly making it all the way across and into our yard/driveway. I walked outside and yelled at him and he just denied it. 
Actually it's EPA issues, and drainage issues.
Theory is when the clippings get to the drain pipes and combines with dirt/dust washed into the system it eventually starts to sediment in pipes and larger debris can hang on it and eventually can create larger blocks in the system that have to be removed or full blockage can occur. If the pipes become completely blocked they will back up and create street flooding. This can cause storm sewer water to enter the sanitary sewer via manholes etc. That is not good for the treatment plants which operate on a certain level of sanitary sewer water only.
In older parts of towns if the sanitary and storm sewers have not been maintained properly the overflow of storm sewer water can actually get into the sanitary sewer and with enough pressure (with a very heavy rain) cause the sanitary sewers to overflow into the streets with a mix of the two.
Granted it would take a LARGE amount of clippings, etc. over a long time without a rain that would "flush" the systems out, but theoretically it can happen.
I do not have curb and gutter in front of my house, I have a ditch. I am not looking forward to the day the EPA and such figure out that these clippings will make it to the system anyway. If they think I'm gonna rake my ditch every week they have another thing coming.
Theory is when the clippings get to the drain pipes and combines with dirt/dust washed into the system it eventually starts to sediment in pipes and larger debris can hang on it and eventually can create larger blocks in the system that have to be removed or full blockage can occur. If the pipes become completely blocked they will back up and create street flooding. This can cause storm sewer water to enter the sanitary sewer via manholes etc. That is not good for the treatment plants which operate on a certain level of sanitary sewer water only.
In older parts of towns if the sanitary and storm sewers have not been maintained properly the overflow of storm sewer water can actually get into the sanitary sewer and with enough pressure (with a very heavy rain) cause the sanitary sewers to overflow into the streets with a mix of the two.
Granted it would take a LARGE amount of clippings, etc. over a long time without a rain that would "flush" the systems out, but theoretically it can happen.
I do not have curb and gutter in front of my house, I have a ditch. I am not looking forward to the day the EPA and such figure out that these clippings will make it to the system anyway. If they think I'm gonna rake my ditch every week they have another thing coming.
i dont blow my clippings in the street, but i dont go out of my way to stop my mower from throwing them on the street. Dont know how its incosiderate, seeing as how the city owns the street my grass lands on.
I blow my clippings into the gutter too. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, I even blow off the street in front of my neighbors house too since the gutter is on the other side of their house. The gutters in my neighborhood are wide enough that I can almost climb through them. I mulch when I mow so the only clippings that make it down the gutter are from edging. When it rains, it would carry the clippings from my yard anyway so what if I give them a little help.
The neighborhood community areas and golf course are watered from reclaimed water from the storm drains so the extra organic compounds and fertilizers are probably good for it. Now if I were blowing a garbage sack or two down the drain, I would think it would be wrong.
The neighborhood community areas and golf course are watered from reclaimed water from the storm drains so the extra organic compounds and fertilizers are probably good for it. Now if I were blowing a garbage sack or two down the drain, I would think it would be wrong.
Instead of bagging my leaves after the fall, I'll blow them to the other side of my street (next to the neighbor's curb). I usually get up really early in the morning so no one catches me doing it. It saves me time and back breaking labor in the yard. I dont feel too guilty about it. The neighbor hires a professional lawn service, so why not let them do it?
Grassclippings are a major contributor to flooding in some cities.
I always preferred to leave them on top of the grass where they belonged.
Blowing grass clippings into storm drains is stupid for many reasons:
1. Leaving clippings on the lawn acts as an organic fertilizer & are good for composting.
2. You are helping clog storm drains.
3. When all the extra grass clippings decompose, they feed algae... which in turn use oxygen in the water & lead to fish kills.
1. Leaving clippings on the lawn acts as an organic fertilizer & are good for composting.
2. You are helping clog storm drains.
3. When all the extra grass clippings decompose, they feed algae... which in turn use oxygen in the water & lead to fish kills.
I don't know about all municipalities but it's against city ordinances to do it in Fort Worth.
We get notices in our water/trash bill not to do it.
We get notices in our water/trash bill not to do it.
A buddy of mine designs and builds drainage systems and says that it's virtually impossible for grass clippings to clog a drainage system.
Stop being lazy and sweep it up. I mulch, blow what I can back into the yard, and then sweep up the rest and throw it in the trash. The storm drainage systems are not for grass disposal. All of the grass most likely gets stuck at the bottom of the nearest manhole, which your tax dollars have to pay some poor guy to clean out.
If grass clippings clog a storm sewer, you don't need to blame the guy with the blower; you need to blame the engineer.
Quit being lazy and push a reel mower so that their are fewer CO2 emmissions.
It isn't that difficult to do this right, assuming you have a blower. After you edge and trim, blow the clippings back into the yard and then run the mulching mower (or bagger) over them. This works whether you mow then edge, or edge then mow, just in the former, run the mower back around where the clippings are.
If you don't have a blower, just use a broom.
If you don't have a blower, just use a broom.
My slob neighbor washes his out of his driveway into mine.
Putting anything other than storm water into a storm sewer is more than likely against the law. They certainly don't enforce it on such a small scale as sweeping grass clippings into the sewer, but TCEQ MS4 rules pretty much make it no bueno.
quote:
Stop being lazy and sweep it up.
This! How hard is it to just sweep it up?
quote:
Dont know how its incosiderate, seeing as how the city owns the street my grass lands on.
It's inconsiderate because if everyone in the neighborhood did this, then the street would look like complete crap when people drive down it.
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