I spent such a long time trying to rotate this picture on WordPress but couldn’t figure it out… sorry about that!
In this picture, we can see a sidewalk storm drain opening with a sign that says “NO DUMPING! DRAINS TO RIVER.” At first, I only noticed it because we were supposed to find it for the scavenger hunt. However, after considering it more, I realized it is highly representative of the dangers and occurrence of water contamination on our campus and elsewhere. If this signage exists, it is most likely because there has been lots of dumping of waste in the past, which has thus drained to the river and dirtied our water sources. It is important for our campus to have these labels, but it still makes me concerned about the dumping that has occurred in the past (or that will occur in the future when the sign is inevitably ignored). Too often, we do not consider how the water – and the pollutants that enter it – are cycled through our environments. However, waste doesn’t simply disappear, and it surely doesn’t belong in our rivers on campus. I hope these signs around UGA are succeeding at preventing our waste drainage, therefore protecting our water sources. This image represents our school’s awareness of water contamination risks and its efforts to decrease them, which I am so glad to have seen during our Watershed Walk field trip!