Images of blue crabs glued to downtown storm drains warn against polluting state waterways. Students and professionals from the American Society of Landscape Architects and staff from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality spent a Saturday gluing the medallions with a message from the crabs. “No dumping,” the medallions read. “Drains to bayou.” The medallions serve as a reminder that most storm drains connect directly to local waterways. Brooke Giraldo, president of the ASLA student chapter, got the idea for the medallions from a system she saw in Portland, Ore. The ASLA is planning another medallion-gluing project in April for National Landscape Architect Month. Group members hope to focus this project on the University area because the entire campus drains into a canal next to the Student Recreation Center which leads to Bayou Duplantier, Giraldo said. Bayou Duplantier is one of the few remaining forest and wetland zones within the city. Dana Brown, ASLA state president, said the goal of the project is to build awareness and to prevent people from dumping into drains. Brown said car oil is a major pollutant, whether it leaks or gets dumped. She said runoff from over-fertilizing and mowing lawns also pollutes. Erosion is one of the underestimated contributors, she said. Giraldo said most people do not know drained substances are not treated and are sent straight into the rivers and bayous. Brown said water pollution is becoming a major issue in the state because it is impossible to fish or swim in most bodies of water. She said every major waterway in the parish leads to the Amite River, which in turn connects to Lake Pontchartrain. Pollution in one area can damage wetlands across the state, she said. “Most people always think of us as gardeners, and instead of having people say, ‘Hey, practice in my yard,’ I thought that we could do something more focused on the environment,” Giraldo said. Brown said landscape architecture is about preserving natural resources and designing around the environment to protect it. “People tend to think of us as just planting trees,” Brown said. “That’s just a little part of what we do.”
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