Follow the Yellow Fish Road

Have you ever noticed a yellow fish painted by a catch basin, or stormwater drain, and wondered what it is for? Trout Unlimited Canada’s Yellow Fish Road™ program helps to show where stormwater drains are and gets you thinking about how your actions can impact our rivers, streams and lakes.

Did you know that all the water that goes into stormwater drain, goes directly into our stormwater ponds untreated? Pollutants in the water can harm fish and wildlife and reduce the water quality for human use.

Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) introduced the Yellow Fish Road  program in 1991. To date, over 220 communities across Canada have approved or implemented this unique and important water quality initiative!

What is the Yellow Fish Road program?

Yellow Fish Road™ volunteers paint “yellow fish” symbols and the words, ‘Rainwater Only’ beside stormwater drains. Volunteers deliver fish-shaped brochures to nearby households. These activities remind people to properly use and safely dispose of hazardous household chemicals, rather than allowing these to enter stormwater drains.

Why is Strathcona County involved?

Pollutants such as excess fertilizers, motor oil, grease, bacteria from livestock and pet waste, sand and debris from improperly managed construction sites flowing down stormwater drains impacts all of us including animals and plants living in the stormwater ponds. Snowmelt, rainwater and runoff can carry all these pollutants down the drain into our stormwater ponds. Poor water quality can affect the food chain and is a major source of human exposure to persistent toxic chemicals. Fish, frogs and other aquatic critters can be destroyed or negatively altered when exposed to hazardous waste.

The water leaving our watershed continues on to the next community downstream. The water is treated before it reaches homes but if water is contaminated, it takes more time, energy and costs more to clean it. That’s one of the reasons why it is so important to keep our waters clean.

How to I take action?

The more people know about proper disposal of household hazardous waste and how we can reduce our impact on the aquatic ecosystem around us, the better.

Call Utilities today for a presentation and access to kit material.