Land Use

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How Land Use Affects Water Quality

Please find below a link that talks about Stormwater Pollutants, their landuse connection, and Best Management Practices to help reduce pollutants from being washed into our waterbodies.
Stormwater Pollutants and BMP’s

I. Restaurants and Food Service Facilities:

Food service businesses can be significant contributors of pollution to our local waterways. Common pollutants from restaurants are grease, cleaning fluids, and trash and food wastes. How these wastes are handled will determine whether they find their way into our creeks and rivers.

Restaurant and food service facilities need to be mindful of dirt, oil, and debris that collect in parking lots and paved areas as they can be washed into the storm drain system and enter local waterways. Sweeping up litter and debris from sidewalks, driveways and parking lots, and especially around storm drains is one way to keep litter out of our rivers and creeks. Covering grease storage containers and dumpsters to keep them clean and avoid leaks is a great way to keep unwanted pollutants from getting into rivers and creeks.
It is essential for restaurant and food service facilities to understand how pollution can be generated from their sites. Understanding what types of pollutants come from typical food service facilities and how to properly handle those pollutants so that non-stormwater discharges are prevented from entering the storm drain system is essential to maintaining stream health in Knox County.

For more information on preventing pollution from restaurants and food service facilities, please click on the link below to explore Knox County’s Special Pollution Abatement Permit and the links embedded in it. Those links will connect you with Best Management Practices (BMPs) for various food service facility activities. Knox County would like to thank the City of Knoxville for sharing its BMPs related to food service facilities with us.

Knox County Special Pollution Abatement Permit (SPAP) for Food Handling and Processing Facilities.