KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette A Muncy resident mows his lawn recently. Grass clippings being blown onto streets and roads wash into storm sewers and drain into streams causing problems for many municipalities.

It’s a common but often overlooked problem facing many municipalities, and perhaps one not many residents consider.

Grass clippings from lawns are blown onto streets and roads, wash into storm sewers and drain into streams.

“That is always a big problem for us,” said Bill Ramsey, Muncy Borough manager. “I think a lot of people think they aren’t a problem. That stuff is not good when it gets into the waterways.”

Muncy has in place an ordinance, fining residents who mow or sweep the grass clippings into streets, although he admits no one ever is cited.

“It is on the books,” he said.

The issue has come up at borough council meetings in at least two municipalities of late.

Jersey Shore officials recently decided to get tougher on property owners careless about grass clippings.

“We’ve actually had it (the ordinance) on the books since 2003 in the borough,” said Joseph Hamm, borough manager. “It happens more than it should.”

Hamm noted that the clippings wash into storm sewers, often clogging them and posing street flooding problems.

Under stormwater requirements of the federal Clean Water Act, municipalities that are part of a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or MS4, must incorporate minimum control measures for pollution prevention.

The MS4 requirements include public educa-

tion and outreach, construction site runoff control, and stormwater management in new development and redevelopment.

Neither Muncy nor Jersey Shore are MS4 communities and therefore not mandated to address the issue.

The 10 MS4s in Lycoming County are Williamsport, DuBoistown, Montoursville, South Williamsport, Fairfield Township, Hepburn Township, Loyalsock Township, Lycoming Township, Old Lycoming Township, and Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The Susquehanna River, fed by smaller streams throughout the state, is the major waterway of the Chesapeake Bay impacted by stormwater runoff.

Carol Parenzan, riverkeeper for the Middle Susquehanna River, noted that grass clippings have a detrimental impact on streams.

“Grass clipping are organic material. They take up oxygen in a stream,” she said. “Grass clippings often come from backyards which have been treated chemically.”

She noted the negative effect posed to aquatic species and their reproduction but agreed many people perhaps don’t know of the negative impact.

“We need to change our thinking,” she said. “We need to get people to start thinking of their backyards. That is the start of what goes into that river.”

Ramsey said it does indeed come down to educating people.

“They (clippings) block storm drains. They can then get into streams,” he said. “More than 60 percent of our stormwater goes into Glade Run, which goes into Muncy Creek and into the Susquehanna River.”

Bill Burdett, Loyalsock Township manager, said it’s a problem in his municipality as well.

“We have already cited a couple of individuals this year who are repeat offenders,” he said. “We first issue warnings.”

Up until this year, no one was cited, however.

But with the MS4 program, the township decided to get tougher on people.

Burdett said, in addition to pollution of waterways and stormwater woes, grass clippings also can pose slippery street conditions, especially for motorcycles.

“It’s definitely an issue. Grass clippings get into catch basins and plug them. It causes flooding,” said Adam Winder, general manager of the Williamsport department of streets and parks.

He noted that certain areas of the city, including Dewey Avenue and Maynard Street, have been sites of street flooding in recent years.

“You have such a small grass area between the sidewalks and a street and there is nowhere to put the grass,” he said.

Ramsey said Muncy street workers have been reminding residents to refrain from mowing or sweeping clippings into streets.

He said the borough also has worked with neighboring municipalities such as Muncy Creek Township to keep swales on the edge of the borough free of grass clippings.

“One resident was bagging grass and throwing it into the swale. Then we got complaints from residents that it was clogged,” he said.

Hamm said Jersey Shore officials have tried to educate residents about the problem, including through the borough newsletter.

“I think a lot of is not knowing,” he said. “I don’t think they are purposely blowing them out into the street.”

Jersey Shore Borough Councilman Bernard Schelb said officials there have been on top of the grass problem for quite some time.

“We do have an ordinance in place,” he said. “I think people are adhering to it.”

Montoursville Mayor Steve Bagwell reported at the June council meeting of grass clippings finding their way into streets.

Police Chief Jeff Guyrina said his department is monitoring the situation.

Borough council in July voted to approved a letter of intent to purchase a truck for cleaning stormwater drains.