What is a Yellow Fish Road™?

Did you know that the storm drain basins along Broadway Avenue and the streets that lead to the Wawa Lake Beach send rain water and other materials collected during storms and snowmelt directly into Wawa Lake untreated? This means that garbage, cigarettes, fertilizers and other pollutions enter our drinking water supply without any filtration which could affect the quality of our drinking water. It also results in litter forming along the beachfront and storm drain pollution can also harm fish and wildlife.

In partnership with the Municipality of Wawa and The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Economic Development Wawa is launching a Yellow Fish Road™ program, to raise local awareness around this issue.

The Yellow Fish Road™ Program was created by Trout Unlimited Canada and is a fun and exciting way to remind local residents that these storm drains are for rainwater only. Youth volunteers will paint “yellow fish” symbols with the words “Rainwater Only‟ beside storm drains and distribute fish-shaped brochures to nearby households. These activities remind people to properly use and safely dispose of hazardous household chemicals, cigarette butts and other garbage rather than allowing these to enter storm drains and our lakes.

All Wawa Youth are invited to help build awareness about storm water pollution this Spring by volunteering to paint storm drains around Wawa Lake with yellow fish and the words “RAINWATER ONLY!” To help Wawa celebrate Earth Day, two paint dates are being planned on Friday, April 21^nd and Friday, April 28^th followed by a pizza party.

Interested youth who want to help with this project should contact Shawn Mahon at the EDC at 705-856-4419 or email [email protected] . All time spent helping with the Wawa Yellow Fish Road™ program will count as school volunteer hours and an information session is planned for Friday, April 7^th at 3:00 p.m. to learn more.

For information about Yellow Fish Road™, go to http://tucanada.org/yellow-fish-road/