You can make a difference by joining with your friends and neighbors in a volunteer program sponsored by Hernando County Stormwater Management. Four activities are currently offered: Adopt A Road, Storm Drain Stenciling, Lake Watch and the annual Coastal Clean-Up.

Brooksville Boy Scout Troop 459 recently participated in a public service campaign to protect Hernando County's lakes and groundwater. The Scouts assembled at Delta Woods Park just after sunrise for training and supplies then dispersed throughout neighborhoods around Lake Teresa to clean and spray paint stenciled messages onto stormwater drain covers.

The brightly colored stencils are hard to miss. "Don't Dump Here - Drains to Spring" warns one message depicting a stylized mermaid while another featuring a fish indicates the inlet "Drains to Lake". The stenciling is sponsored by Hernando County Stormwater Management and is intended to reduce illegal dumping of chemicals and oil into storm drains.

These Mitchell Heights residents stenciled 24 inlets along Doctor Martin Luther King Boulevard in south Brooksville.

There are about 9,000 inlets in Hernando County.

Volunteers are encouraged to call Stormwater Management at (352) 754-4062 to participate in the stenciling program.

View our Drain Stenciling Video

The 2016 Hernando County Coastal Clean Up was held on October 22 at Linda Pederson Park. Forty-three participants contributed their valuable time to pick up over 1,500 lbs of trash and litter from the county's waterways and roadsides.The event was sponsored by Hernando County Stormwater Management, the Florida Department of Transportation, Republic Services and Affordable Hauling. Participating groups, including the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department, the Central High School Key Club, the Springstead High School Environmental Club and the Nature Coast High School National Honor Society, cleaned the coastline in the western part of the County while the Hernando Audubon Society paddled and cleaned the Withlacoochee River in Ridge Manor.