Watershed panel offering chemical-free products

The Lawrence Brook Watershed Partnership is conducting an Organic (chemical free) Fertilizer and Home-Cleaning Product Sale from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the group's headquarters building, 85 Washington Ave., Milltown.

The nonprofit organization, dedicated to the protection of the Lawrence Brook Watershed, seeks to encourage area residents to avoid the use of toxic lawn and garden products and home-cleaning liquids. Data shows that stormwater runoff, contaminated by chemical lawn fertilizers and pesticides, is a significant contributor to the degradation of the quality of the drinking water supply and can be harmful to children and pets. Lawns and gardens fed with organic fertilizers and insecticides are naturally healthier than those fed with chemicals and are low in phosphate, which is one of the major contaminants in streams. Organic household cleaning fluids reduce the exposure of children and pets to some harmful cleaning products.

Order forms are available at local libraries, at the partnership's Milltown headquarters, at www.lbwp.org, or by calling (732) 249-5297 (LBWP).