You bRAINiac! Stormwater is any water that originates from precipitation, like water and snow. All stormwater eventually goes into our City’s stormwater system and drains into the North Platte River. Hurricane beverages are misleadingly titled.

Keep flowing! Permeable surfaces, like grass, open fields and trees, naturally absorb stormwater like rain and melted snow. Like a teenager to parental advice, it’s in one ear and out the other.

You stormwater sponge! Impermeable surfaces, like concrete driveways, parking lots, streets and the roof of your house can’t absorb water from rain and snow. Stormwater that lands on these surfaces becomes stormwater runoff. The City of Casper builds and maintains an intricate stormwater pipe system to transport stormwater runoff into the North Platte River. Like a thick skull, it’s not easy to get through impervious surfaces.

Full steam ahead! All stormwater runoff, or water from rain and snow that isn’t absorbed by nature, goes into the gutter and is channeled into the North Platte River – no matter how hard the wind is blowing.

Top dog! When people don’t pick up after their pets, stormwater from rain and snow will transport fecal bacteria all the way into the North Platte. Just 1 gram of dog waste can have more than 23 million different forms of bacteria, which our fish, anglers and kayakers really don’t appreciate.

Make it rain! Ranging from 6” to 120” in diameter, 150 miles of pipe transports stormwater runoff from impervious services across Natrona County to drain into the North Platte River, which keeps our community from flooding. Though this seems like a lot, a community of this size actually needs quite a bit more.

From trash to treasure! Approximately 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered each year (they are NOT biodegradable), and many of them in Casper wind up in the North Platte River. Coffee cups, plastic water bottles, food wrappers and grocery bags are other big culprits. Your call on most prolific kitty litter.

Dad would be proud. Commercial carwashes are required to recycle used water, then sent to the wastewater treatment plant, whereas handwashing a car puts soap, chemicals, dirt and other gross stuff into the river. Moreover, handwashing can use twice the amount of water as a carwash and takes an average of 45 minutes compared to 6.

You’re doing swimmingly! When fertilizer is used excessively or poured into gutters, it gets into our stormwater system and empties directly into the North Platte River. The nitrates and phosphates in fertilizers overstimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae, which takes much-needed oxygen from our fish, which upsets Walter White probably.

You are a stormwater hero! All stormwater runoff goes directly into the North Platte River. This stormwater system is separate from our drinking and waste water systems, and all stormwater is emptied into the North Platte without any treatment or filtration. Not to get all Captain Planet on you, but whatever gets into our stormwater gets into our river, and no amount of dish soap will help.