One of the things that I hate to have to share with the public is the announcement of a beach closing. Not only does this spoil a planned day of fun for a family, it also means that our precious water is in trouble. I don't think we can ever stress enough how important this is - our health, our recreation, our future - is dependent on clean and plentiful water.

Macomb County residents - many of them with a deep and abiding pride to their connections with the motor city - are "do it yourselfers." Macomb County folks like to get their hands dirty - it reminds themselves of their heritage and puts their tools to good use. Believe it or not, there are still lots of people who like to change their own engine oil, especially if it is for a boat or snowmobile. Heck, there are even people who religiously drain the oil out of their lawnmowers every fall.

The Health Department has been collecting used motor oil from residents for better than 15 years. A wide reaching public information campaign has helped people to learn that dumping used oil down the sewer was a bad thing to do. As more people caught on, more collection sites have been created. In fact, it is not uncommon for a homeowner to show up with ten to twenty-five (10 to 25) gallons of used oil per visit.

Truly - before collection - that stuff was dumped behind the garage, down the drain at the end of the driveway - just dumped. It is a good thing we do this. But, those number crunchers at the health department - they got to thinking. What about all those oil filters that get tossed into the trash? Aren't there a few ounces of used oil trapped in each of them? How much would all that oil add up to?

When they learned that a machine could help to squeeze the last drop of oil out of a filter before tossing it into the landfill, they had to make the technology available to "do it yourselfers." Before long, collection sites began encouraging users to bring in their used oil filters too.

In the first year, more than 500 filters were collected. Each one produced a tablespoon or so of oil and all that squeezed oil added up to about 27 gallons. It may not sound like much but every drop of oil that ends up in our water damages our environment. With increased education and a program to encourage use by commercial enterprises, every little diverted drop keeps our water safe for future generations.