WETLAND PLANTS ARE PART OF A LARGER PICTURE

Every time it rains, the water that lands in your yard has to go somewhere. Some of it either soaks into the ground or evaporates, but during a heavy rain most of that water will become “surface runoff.” Surface runoff water will flow across your yard, into ditches and coulees eventually making its way into the Bayou Vermilion.

Along the way, this water picks up pollutants such as oil, pesticides, loose soils, excess fertilizers and trash. This stormwater runoff, and the pollutants it carries is the biggest threat to the water quality of the Bayou Vermilion.

Through a grant with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Bayou Vermilion District is able to demonstrate five approaches that homeowners can use to improve the quality of stormwater entering the Vermilion River.