The spread of invasive species is a pretty important item in just about every area of the country. We (the FD) don't often think about this when go out on drill night to draft from that stream or pond or lake; but we probably should put more effort into that by simply putting the water back where we got it from and by paying attention to signage. There was an era when the FD could do no harm. And while most FD's did no harm on purpose, those days are really kind of over. When planning a training session take time to review your water sources and the plans for discharging that water or recovering that water. This includes the discharge of chlorinated water into stream and creeks.

As part of all our seminars we review the water use plan before any drill and work to ensure local water use requirements are met. In most cases the easiest thing to do is figure out a way to put any water taken from a static source back into that static source (or its watershed). For chlorinated water, do not put it directly into a stream or creek; get it onto a field or grassy surface from which the chlorine will then evaporate in a day or so in most areas. The chlorine levels in municipal drinking water are pretty low and of course safe for human consumption. However, flooding a small stream with thousands of gallons of chlorinated water in a couple hours can prove quite harmful to that ecosystem.