Thank God for the break in the weather. We've had enough rain here in the Rockford area. As the flood waters continue to recede the Illinois EPA is warning all citizens to toss any sandbags used to keep the floodwaters away.

The Illinois EPA, as reported by WGNis asking all Illinois residents that used sandbags during our recent floodings to throw out used sandbags due to being contaminated.

I know what you're thinking, "What how can sand become contaminated?" Am I right?

Well it's not exactly the sand that's contaminated, but the bags that are used to hold the sand.

The Illinois EPA says that any sandbag used, whether it was canvas or polypropylene plastic, and came into contact with the flood water needs to be thrown. This is because flood waters are typically contaminated with gasoline, human and animal waste, farm chemicals and more.

Ewww... yeah that's gross. We tend to forget that just because it's water it's not all pure due to run off and from all the areas of properties that came from.

If any of the sandbags look like they were in flood water. the bags need to be thrown out. the sand itself can be reused. If the bags are the canvas type those can be burned.

Many of the local governments are allowing citizen to return the used and effected sandbags. The sand then will be used as back-fill for excavating projects.

If you have sandbags that didn't come into contact with the flood waters you can store them by keeping them dry and out of the sun and by putting tarp all the way ( the top and underside) the bags when stacking them.

 

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