News You Can Use

Pick Up Pet Waste

Pets bring a lot of joy into many families. They also leave behind a lot of waste in your backyard and when you take them for walks. Clean Drains Fort Wayne would like to remind everyone that leaving pet waste behind can spread disease and pollute streams. Picking up pet waste isn’t just a warm weather chore, it needs picked up year round to keep our neighborhoods and drains clean.

Your Ditch is NOT Your Dump

When grass clippings and leaf debris is dumped into drainage ditches they not only add excess nutrients to those water bodies, they can also cause flooding due to the restricted waterway. Alternative disposal methods would be:

• Use mulching cycle on lawnmowers.
• Compost at home.
• Take yard waste, including lawn clippings, tree limbs, and leaves to Biosolids Handling Facility located at 6202 Lake Avenue.

Help Prevent Mercury Pollution

Mercury is highly toxic, but it is found in common household items. Fever thermometers with silver liquid, batteries, old thermostats, even compact fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury. A very small amount of spilled mercury or a broken bulb can cause widespread contamination. It is essential to identify mercury-containing items and dispose of them properly. Visit www.acwastewatcher.org or utilities.cityoffortwayne.org/mercury-pollution for more information.

Protect Our Rivers by Reporting Pollution

Did you know anything that goes into a storm drain ends up in a pond or one of our rivers without receiving any kind of treatment?  Storm drains and storm sewers discharge directly to water bodies.  If you see anything other than rain water going into a storm drain, or being dumped into a river or stream, please call 311 to report it.  City Utilities will investigate, take steps to find the pollution source and make sure it is cleaned up.

Environmentally Friendly Landscaping

Some of the rain water that falls on your property will go to a pond or river taking with it many of the things it touches. Help protect stormwater quality starting in your yard: When you mow skip bagging and leave clippings on the lawn. Compost yard waste instead of putting it in the trash. Have your soil tested then use only the type and amount of fertilizer you need. Learn more about green landscaping at utilities.cityoffortwayne.org/green-landscaping.

Grass Scaping

Spring is in the air which means gardening and landscaping for many residents. Before adding a fertilizer to your lawn this year, try testing your soil first. Test kits determine what the levels of pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are. These kits can be purchased at many hardware stores. Once you know what levels your soil is currently at, you can determine what type of fertilizer is needed (you may not need to fertilize).

Testing Your Backflow Preventer

Irrigation season is right around the corner. Due to the bacterial and chemical contaminants found on lawns, irrigation systems have potential to backflow into the public water distribution system. For this reason, these systems must have an approved backflow prevention device installed and tested annually. When you call to start up your system this year make sure you ask your irrigation company to test your backflow preventer. Questions? Visit utilities.cityoffortwayne.org/backflow-prevention.

Pick Up Pet Waste

Pets bring a lot of joy into many families. They also leave behind a lot of waste in your backyard and when you take them for walks. Clean Drains Fort Wayne would like to remind everyone that leaving pet waste behind can spread disease and pollute streams. Picking up pet waste isn’t just a warm weather chore, it needs picked up year round to keep our neighborhoods and drains clean.

Your Ditch is NOT Your Dump

When grass clippings and leaf debris is dumped into drainage ditches they not only add excess nutrients to those water bodies, they can also cause flooding due to the restricted waterway. Alternative disposal methods would be:

• Use mulching cycle on lawnmowers.
• Compost at home.
• Take yard waste, including lawn clippings, tree limbs, and leaves to Biosoilds located at 6202 Lake Avenue.

Cease the Grease

Just like in human hearts, fats, oils, and grease (FOG) can cause serious damage to sewer lines. This can increase the rates of sewer overflows and backups. To keep the sewer lines clear and protect our environment, never pour grease down the drain or toilet. Wiping grease away from cooking utensils and disposing of grease in the trash is a simple way of keeping grease out of the drain. Do your part to cease the grease.

Remember It’s a Toilet Not a Trash Can!

Your toilet is intended for just one activity and you know what we mean. Flushing the wrong things can clog pipes and damage plumbing. It can cause sewage to back up into your home or clog the public sewer system. The cost to clean clogged sewers is paid for by customers through sewer rates. So remember: items such as wipes, diapers, latex gloves, condoms, and feminine hygiene products should be disposed of in the trash, not the toilet.

Environmentally Friendly Landscaping

Some of the rain water that falls on your property will go to a pond or river taking with it many of the things it touches. Help protect stormwater quality starting in your yard: When you mow skip bagging and leave clippings on the lawn. Compost yard waste instead of putting it in the trash. Have your soil tested then use only the type and amount of fertilizer you need. Learn more about green landscaping at utilities.cityoffortwayne.org/ways-you-can-help.

Note:

1. If we do not receive your payment by the due date, your bill is past due and your account is delinquent. Delinquent accounts will be assessed a late fee in accordance with the Fort Wayne Water Utility General Rules and Regulations.
2. Your water service can be disconnected when your bill payment is past due. If your service has been disconnected, you will need to contact us to schedule a time to turn your water back on after you have paid the total amount that you owe. There may be additional fees for re-connecting service.
3. You can appeal the current charges on your bill. Do this by asking for an Administrative Appeal Hearing, which is described in the Fort Wayne Water Utility General Rules and Regulations. Your request for the hearing must be made in writing and must describe the reason for your appeal. The request must be received by our office on or before the due date of the bill that you are disputing. Please send your request to: Customer Support Manager, 200 E. Berry St., Suite 130, Fort Wayne, IN 46802, or email to [email protected].

Further billing will not cancel this notice!

If you receive another bill from City Utilities, it does not mean that your disconnection has been stopped.

If someone in your home has a serious illness…

City Utilities will delay disconnection of your water service if you provide us with an approved medical statement from a licensed physician before the due date on this notice. The doctor’s statement must show that water service disconnection will be a serious and immediate threat to the health and safety of a person living in your household. Within 10 days of this notification, you must sign an agreement to pay the rest of this bill.

City Utilities reserves and preserves all of its claims, rights, remedies, defenses and causes of actions against all parties.