Throughout the month of August, the City of Tacoma is holding a Twitter trivia contest and reaching out to residents to share three simple tips for washing cars in a way that helps keep Commencement Bay free of pollutants.

The first tip: Wash your car on your lawn or gravel so soapy water doesn’t flow down the street into storm drains and out to the bay.

The second tip: Use soaps or detergents without phosphates that deplete oxygen that fish need to survive.

The final tip: In case some water does run off, sweep driveways and street gutters to keep dirt, leaves and trash from getting into storm drains and ending up in the bay.

To drive home this point, each day this month the City of Tacoma will give away a free car wash ticket on Twitter. According to City of Tacoma officials, using a commercial car wash is good for Commencement Bay because the wash water used by these businesses gets treated and sometimes recycled, too.

Just follow the City of Tacoma on Twitter @CityofTacoma and respond correctly to a Puget Sound or surface water trivia question to be entered in a drawing. For contest rules and information, visit cityoftacoma.org.

City of Tacoma staff will attend community events throughout the month of August with tips and giveaways to help you wash your vehicle the fish-friendly way. Look for them on Sat., Aug. 17 at the LeMay: America’s Car Museum drive-in movie and other events.

More information about surface water is available online at pugetsoundstartshere.org.