The EPA's Getting In Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns guide provides the tools needed to develop and implement an effective outreach campaign as part of a state or local, water quality improvement effort.

Whether you’re charged with developing a watershed management plan to restore impaired waters or protecting your local water resources for the future, this guide will help you understand the importance of reaching out to people and motivating them to act.

This updated version of the 1998 publication:

  • Includes more specific information on how to work with the mass media to conduct an outreach campaign.
  • Provides new information on how to incorporate social marketing techniques into your campaign to generate sustainable behavior changes that will protect water quality.
  • Teaches you how to listen to the needs of your audience rather than just blindly handing out fact sheets or reports that sit on shelves and collect dust.
  • Shows you the important roles that audience research and program evaluation play in changing personal behavior.
  • Helps you to determine the most effective vehicle to reach the target audience and motivate behavior change through the step-by-step approach to social marketing and outreach planning and implementation.

The county’s Communications Department will develop four Public Service Announcements (PSA) to educate residents about the connection between their everyday activities and water quality issues.  Each of the four seasonal PSAs will be 30 seconds in length and air for approximately three months at a time on Cablevision News12 during 2009. Funding for advertising costs has been provided by a grant from the New York State Department of State: Water Quality Planning and Implementation Grants.

  • Winter PSA: Salt and Stormwater (00:36 min.) - For more information on de-icing and protecting our drinking water, read our Winter Deicing tips. 
  • Spring PSA: Scoop the Poop (00:30 min.) - Pet waste can be a major source of bacteria and excess nutrients in local waters. Leaving pet waste on the ground increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria and nutrients to wash into the storm drain and eventually into local waterbodies.
  • Summer PSA:  Car Washing and Water Quality (00:30 min) Most citizens are not aware that by washing the grime off their vehicles, they are polluting the environment. When cars are washed on streets and driveways, dirty water enters storm drains and eventually winds up in rivers, streams, creeks and lakes. Read tips on how best to wash your car.
  • Fall PSA: 4: Fertilizer and Water Quality (00:30 min) Excess fertilizer applied to lawns and gardens wash off and pollute streams. Because they contain nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium applied in excess, these nutrients nourish weed growth and algae in our lakes, rivers and steams.

Did you know there's no such thing as "new" water? Water isn't just used; it's recycled and reused. Consider this: The water you drank this morning may have been the same water that dinosaurs drank 65 million years ago! Every molecule of water that was present when the Earth was formed is still present today in one form or another. It may be frozen in ice, suspended in a gaseous state in the atmosphere or it may be in liquid form as in the rivers that run through your region.

Almost 80 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water. Here are some statistics to consider:

  • 97 percent of the Earth’s water is salty
  • 3 percent of the Earth’s water is fresh
  • 2 percent of the Earth’s water is in glaciers
  • 1 percent is fresh water is available for human consumption

Lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, swamps, bogs and marshes are all freshwater habitats. Lumped together, these ecosystems contain all the water in the world that is not frozen, essentially salt-free and accessible to humans.

Here are a variety of recommended resources:

Training

  • Project WET
    The mission of Project WET is to reach children, parents, educators, and communities of the world about water education.

Tools

  • Enviroscape
    A series of portable, table-top models that provide unique, interactive learning experiences, to make the connection between what we do on earth and environmental quality.

Note: The Westchester County Department of Planning has the Enviroscape Coastal model available on loan. For more information, and to reserve the model, contact David Kvinge at , (914) 995-2089, or Nicole Laible at , (914) 995-4423.

Downloadable Activities and other links

  • EPA Water Sourcebooks
    The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12 divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 5-8 and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water; Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment; Surface Water Resources; Ground Water Resources; and Wetlands and Coastal Waters.
  • Drinking Water and Groundwater Kids Stuff
  • Nonpoint source pollution (Kids page)
  • Liquid Assets is a public media and outreach initiative seeking to inform the nation about the critical role that our water infrastructure plays in protecting public health and promoting economic prosperity. Liquid Assets explores the history, engineering, and political and economic challenges of our water infrastructure, and engages communities in local discussion about public water and wastewater issues.

We offer these materials to get you started in spreading the word about protecting our environment.

Customizable USEPA Publications
The EPA has developed stormwater outreach and reference documents that state and local governments can customize to use in their own stormwater outreach campaigns. The electronic files contain space for officials to add their own contact information and inexpensively reproduce these materials. The general public, homeowners, construction site operators, even and children, can view, download and print the materials. Here are a few we think are particularly useful.

  • After the Storm:  A Citizen’s Guide to Understanding Stormwater
    11” x 17” quarter-folded brochure for color printing on a medium to heavy weight paper. The brochure includes an overview of stormwater runoff, effects of pollution, and guidelines for homeowners, commercial, construction, agriculture, forestry, and automotive facilities. The back cover provides ample space for adding local contact information.

  • Make Your Home the Solution to Stormwater Pollution:  A Homeowner’s Guide to Healthy Habits for Clean Water
    5.5” x 17” tri-folded brochure for color printing on cardstock. The brochure includes a brief overview of stormwater runoff and bulleted lists of things that homeowner’s can do to reduce NPS pollution in their vehicle and garage, lawn and garden, home repair and improvement, pet care, swimming pool and spa, and septic system use and maintenance.

  • Stormwater Pollution Found in Your Area!
    4.3” x 11” door hanger for color printing on cardstock. The door hanger lets the citizens know about stormwater pollution problems in their area and what can be done to minimize or eliminate the pollutants. The door hanger would be good to use alone or with a storm drain marking project. The front provides space to write in where the storm sewer system leads as well as space for adding local contact information.

Westchester County Publications

 

 

 

MS4 - Phase II Stormwater Education and Outreach Program

The County of Westchester has been authorized to enter into an agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to accept a grant from NYSDEC. The grant will be used to develop and implement a regional stormwater education and outreach program. The amount of the grant will not exceed $200,000.00 and the term of the agreement is March 1, 2007 to February 28, 2009.

The Westchester County Department of Planning and 38 participating municipalities will implement the program. The education and outreach program will address two of the six minimum control measures of the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for stormwater discharges from municipal storm sewer systems.

The agreement will serve the public purpose by improving the water quality in the County of Westchester.

The county, pursuant to Act 225-2007 and Act 226-2007, was authorized to enter into and accept Environmental Protection Funds in the amount of $200,000.00 from the NYSDEC. The grant requires a 50 percent match (of the total project cost of $400,000) consisting of $150,000 of in-kind services from Westchester County and $50,000 collectively from the 38 participating municipalities.

Compliance

How to meet two of the six minimum control measures:

  • Public outreach and education
  • Public participation and involvement

All information located on the www.westchestergov.com/stormwater site can be used by the 38 participating municipalities for local education programs and/or stormwater campaigns. These tools will help municipal partners to develop and implement an effective outreach campaign as part of a municipal local water quality improvement effort.

For further ideas on how to implement the information presented on this site, please read the National Menu of Stormwater Best Management Practices. Examples of appropriate implementation:

  • Public Service Announcements: Download and air the TV and Radio PSAs on your local stations.
  • Print Materials: Download and print the available print materials and ask a local volunteer group to allocate.
  • Education Materials: Hold an Earth Day event or education event at your local school.
  • Rain Gardens: Build a demonstration rain garden in your community to educate residents about its many water quality benefits.
  • Rain Barrels: Construct demonstration rain barrels to educate residents about techniques that not only save water but minimize stormwater runoff.

For questions regarding the MS4 – Phase II Stormwater Education and Outreach Program, contact David Kvinge at , (914) 995-2089.

 

 

  1. Rain Barrels
  2. Rain Gardens
  3. Property Maintenance
  4. Septic Systems