DIY: How to Disconnect Your Downspout to Protect Rivers - Blue Living Ideas

DIY: How to Disconnect Your Downspout to Protect Rivers

Posted on Jun 02, 2009 by Jennifer Lance.

Where do the downspouts off of your house’s gutters flow?  Do they enter into the city’s sewer system?  For many cities, this is a problem.  The city of Portland, Oregon explains:

A large part of Portland has a combined sewer system that carries sewage and stormwater runoff in the same pipes. When it rains, the combined sewers fill to capacity and some of the stormwater and sewage mixture overflows to the Willamette River.

Downspouts on many homes are connected directly the combined sewer system and roof runoff from those homes contributes to combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Disconnecting those downspouts reduces the amount of water entering the system and reduces CSOs.

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Obama’s Stimulus Package Provides Tax Credits for Solar and High Efficiency Hot Water Heaters

Posted on Mar 16, 2009 by Jennifer Lance.

The economic stimulus package signed into law by President Obama includes tax credits for solar and high efficiency hot water heaters. The law revived and expanded tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements that expired in 2007, like hot water heaters.  Home improvements must be made to primary residences beginning in 2009 to qualify.
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