Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
Not to diss' the environmental authorities, but I seriously doubt that dumping a bucket of paint water in my backyard will bring the law down on me. There are no wells in the city and the particles will get filtered by the soil and grass before it reaches the stormwater system. In fact, it's so dry here that the stormwater system won't see any water that is backyard because the soil will drink it up.

Thanks for the info on letting it evaporate. I actually did buy a teflon paint tray. You just let the paint dry in it and peel it off and put it in the trash. It'll take a long time for a bucket of water to evaporate though, but perhaps I'll give it a try if I don't need the bucket for anything else.
ah, the old "it won't matter if I do it" argument. And the old "I can't get fined if I don't get caught" argument. I understand that small time polluters aren't a law enforcement priority, and the idea that some people have that one little bit can't possibly hurt. I feel pretty strongly that one SHOULD care what they are adding to the soil and water. We've been in the groundwater/environmental services industry since 1985 and have our own company doing ground water monitoring and clean up. You'd be surprised what can travel through soil and into the groundwater. Ground water travels: what enters the soil below you can dilute to ppm and travel for miles. But whatever - it's your neighborhood.