PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Currently, Pennsylvania is in peak fall foliage, which means the leaves are falling everywhere and in some unwanted places.
Going down North Washington Avenue in Scranton, you will see the fall themed-sidewalks filled with colorful trees — and storm drains congested with dead leaves.
It's the same sight in Schuylkill County.
"It's really nice to see them, but when they start falling, it's a lot of work," said Peggy Butler from Minersville.
Butler and her husband spend most of the fall cleaning up leaves all around her property.
"They're everywhere; you can't even see the grass. And the rain has left them even worse, so we got to get them up," added Butler.
On rainy or windy days, you can see trucks from Pennsylvania American Water cleaning up the leaves on the road to prevent drain issues.
"They can get into storm drains. They can cause sewer backups, and that can cause backups in people's homes, which we don't want to happen," explained Susan Turcmanovich, Pennsylvania American Water's external affairs manager.
It's not just damaging to water lines. Once they get into the local waterways, they can create problems for nutrient buildup and damage wildlife.
To prevent this, Pennsylvania American Water is asking its customers to help with the cleanup.
"Instead of just blowing the leaves to the gutter, they can just bag them. Check with your local municipality to see if there's a collection, what day the collection is, and if there's a recycling center that could recycle them into compost," Turcmanovich said.
It's so simple, the Butlers are already doing this with their piles of leaves.
"We have a place that we can go to at the bottom of town, and we put them down in the recyclables," Butler mentioned.
With Pennsylvania American Water responsible for clearing 10,000 drains in the Scranton-Dunmore area alone, they say any little bit helps.
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