VIDEO: Lincoln neighborhoods are often a mass the day after the Fourth of July with firework debris scattered across cities and streets. This is more than an eyesore, it’s a danger to Lincoln’s waterways and the wildlife they support.
"There's way more wildlife than people think," Erin Kubicek, environmental health educator for the City of Lincoln said. "There's fish and frogs, aquatic insects that provide food for fish and frogs, aquatic birds like ducks, geese and herons."
All of those animals suffer when firework debris is left to wash down storm drains and into streams.
"Fireworks have chemicals, explosives, oxidants and metals and those things are released into the environment," Dan Snow, a lab director with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said.
One chemical in particular, called perchlorate, is the city's biggest concern.
It’s used in fireworks, and while it’s naturally occurring, it can be toxic at low levels.