Coos Bay city residents continue to dump their unwanted stuff into storm drains, regardless of where motor oil, construction materials or hazardous wastes may end up.

Maybe some people need a reminder, or maybe some have just never been told what’s right.

Assistant project manager Mike McDaniels for Operations Management International in Coos Bay would like to think it’s the latter of the two.

“Everything from the catch basins drains directly into the bay,” McDaniels said.

That’s why OMI began a medallion campaign in August, spiking down circles of metal near storm drains in the streets of Coos Bay.

The medallions are 31⁄2 inches wide and are emblazoned with the words “NO DUMPING, DRAINS TO BAY.” Each bears the image of a crab, serving as a conscientious reminder for would-be polluters, McDaniels said.

“One of our goals — one of everybody’s goals — is to improve the environment,” he said. “Once they see the medallion, it lets them know where (waste) goes.”

Coos Bay Public Works and Development Director Jim Hossley warns that in addition to possibly damaging the environment, polluters are breaking the law.

“It would be against a city ordinance to do that,” Hossley said.

Fines listed on city ordinances range between $500 and $2,500 for dumping in storm drains.

The Oregon State Department of Environmental Quality cites statute ORS 468B.025, which prohibits people from polluting waters of the state, including bays and rivers, and defines pollution as any alteration —even color or temperature — to a body of water.

Medford-based DEQ hazardous waste specialist Lisa Freeman explained that while some people intentionally dump hazardous materials such as solvents, most do so because they don’t know any better.

“Fluids of that sort should never go down the drain,” she said.

Freeman said that many people confuse storm drains for contained sewer drains that feed into wastewater treatment facilities, and that disposing of pollutants in curb-side sewer drains is normal behavior. However, even dumping in sewer drains is illegal.

“Now we’re learning that’s what not to do,” she said.

DEQ encourages people to store hazardous waste until it can be disposed of during an annual Hazardous Household Waste program event, but the closest event is in Florence. Otherwise, DEQ directs people to a permanent Hazardous Household Waste facility in Lane County.

Storm drains inevitably pick up runoff containing waste, but McDaniels said that he occasionally witnesses business employees or other people dumping toxic materials into storm drains.

“I found one detail shop that had an engine on a rack, dripping with degreaser, sitting on a catch basin,” he said.

More commonly, contractors and homeowners use storm drains to dispatch leftover paint, grout and concrete.

While mostly non-toxic, this kind of waste fills the catch basin at the bottom of storm drains and sometimes clogs the drain, causing runoff to back up and flood the street above.

OMI is placing the medallions beside drains in heavy traffic areas downtown, but plans to put them on residential areas as well.

For now, there are hundreds of storm drains in the Coos Bay area that may be targeted by those looking to quickly dispose of oil and other waste.

“Just dispose of it in the recommended way,” McDaniels said.