Watershed Residential Programs

A rain garden is landscaping that absorbs water from your roof or driveway. It's a shallow depression in a yard that collects rainwater and sports a variety of flowers, shrubs and grasses.

Read more about rain gardens in Gresham

The City’s free, fish-friendly car wash kit is available for your next fundraiser.

At home, washing the car in the driveway sends dirty soap and pollutants directly to stormdrains and on to local waterways. We recommend washing the car over a lawn or at a commercial car wash.

Read more about the car wash kit and tips.

The City offers downspout disconnection assistance during the summer. Disconnecting your downspouts can prevent rainwater run-off from entering our local streams. 

Read more about downspout disconnection assistance. 

Pool and hot tub water contains water sanitizing chemicals that harm fish and wildlife, even if it has been sitting and no longer contains chlorine.  This water may not be discharged to the City’s storm drains.  

Discharge to City sewer system

Chlorinated pool or hot tub water may be discharged to the City’s sewer system, which drains to the wastewater treatment plant.

• Connections to the sewer must be through a sewer cleanout, floor drain, toilet, or other approved sewer connection.
• Notifying the City is not required as long as the discharge rate is less than 25 gallons per minute.
• If the discharge rate is greater than 25 gallons per minute, the City must be contacted to confirm the sewer system can handle the additional water flow.

Discharge to a grassy area

Dechlorinated water may be discharged onto grassy or gravelly areas that infiltrate into the ground ─ so long as the water doesn’t flow onto neighboring properties, or down driveways or streets into a public storm drain.

Questions?

Contact Paul Kramer, Environmental Services, 503-618-2648 or Paul.Kramer@GreshamOregon.gov.

We encourage homeowners and businesses to keep a pesticide-free lawn and garden. It’s easy and helps keep harmful products away from people, pets and our streams.

Go chemical free

• Lawn and garden chemicals can remain on your lawn for days or months and may be harmful to humans and pets.
• Pesticides can kill pollinators and soil microbes critical to healthy gardens. 
• Lawn chemicals can collect in storm drains, introducing toxins to rivers and streams, harming fish and aquatic insects.

Find safer chemicals

Go green lawn care

• Mow high and often. Cutting your lawn higher encourages a stronger root system, reducing weeds.
• Use a mulching mower that chops grass and leaves it on the lawn as a natural fertilizer.
• Water when the sun is low (before 10:00 am or after 6:00 pm). Lawns only need an average of one inch of water per week. Get your weekly watering number
• Let your lawn go brown. It’s not dead, just dormant.
• Replace your lawn with drought-tolerant grass and naturescaping. 

Resources

• Backyard habitat
• Eco-friendly landscapers
• Lawn and garden resources
• Native plants guide
• Protecting pollinators
• Rain garden grants
• Safer lawn chemicals

Lawn care video

Pet waste carries pathogens such as Giardia, E. Coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter. These bugs cause illness in people, especially children and the elderly.

Gresham's local streams are known to carry harmful levels of bacteria.

You can help by always picking up after your pet when on walks and avoiding children's play areas. 

Local scouts or civic groups have volunteered to build and install dog boxes in Gresham. Look for a bag in our dog boxes when you need one and help out by bringing extra bags to leave for others.

Take the pet waste pledge.

Manage your recreational vehicle (RV) waste by using an approved waste disposal site. 

 Local disposal sites

• Camping World:24000 NE Sandy Blvd., Wood Village (open 24 hours)
• Traveling outside Oregon? Visit Sanidumps.com for an online directory of stations in the U.S. and Canada

 Improper disposal

•  Never dispose of RV waste in stormwater drains in streets or parking lots – these drains carry stormwater directly to local streams.  
• If you witness illegal dumping of RV waste, please contact the City’s Code Compliance Division,
  503-618-2248 or CodeEnforcement@GreshamOregon.gov. 

Take the weed and feed pledge.

Receive a Pesticide-Fee Zone sign for your yard. Thank you for helping us reach our 'Skip the Weed and Feed' goal.

Weed and feed is a chemical found in many lawn and garden products. It’s toxic to fish and can be dangerous to children and pets. We have the power to improve public health and our environment by choosing lawn and garden products without weed and feed.

Eco-friendly landscapers