It is CLEAR that education is crucial to the success of our storm water management program. The more you learn…the more you know.
H2O Jo
Click on the link below to see H2O Jo take a trip down the storm drain.
H2O Jo
What Else Can You Do?
- Help keep pollution out of storm drains
- Always put trash where it belongs
- Recycle appropriate items
- Fertilize caringly and sparingly
- Carefully store and dispose of household cleaners, chemicals, and oils
- Clean up after your pet
- Practice good car care
- Choose earth-friendly landscaping
- Stay water-efficient
- Volunteer – attend clean-up events
- Educate your family, friends, and neighbors about the role everyone plays in protecting our waterways.
The Clean Water Act (https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act) provides the framework for water quality regulation in the United States. In Colorado, the Water Quality Control Commission (https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wqcd) is the agency which has the authority to establish water quality standards consistent with the federal Clean Water Act.
Local permit holders, like the members of CLEAR, must comply with regulations, in the form of Stormwater Permits. There are two sewer systems in your community. The sanitary sewer system is for wastewater from homes, schools, churches and businesses that is piped to a water treatment facility, where harmful elements are removed before the water is discharged. The stormwater drains that carries runoff away from roads, parking lots, and buildings through a series of pipes and detention basins before discharging it into creeks is the system that is regulated through the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit process (https://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater-discharges-municipal-sources).
We take education so seriously that we support a wide variety of efforts with the message:
One this is CLEAR, the water quality in our creeks, river, and lakes depends on everyone’s help.
To Schedule a Presentation
Cherry Creek Stewardship Partners: www.cherry-creek.org
Service Learning and Volunteer Opportunities
Castle Rock’s Spring Up the Creek (held the first Saturday in May): Spring Up the Creek
Cherry Creek Stewardship Partners: www.cherry-creek.org
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado – Outdoor Stewardship Institute (OSI): www.voc.org/osi
Public Service Announcements and Resources
Colorado State University: www.fm.colostate.edu/stormwater
Douglas County: www.douglas.co.us/water/stormwater/
Games and Study Guides
Neighborhood Explorers: https://www.fws.gov/pacific/experience_nature/Learn_And_Teach/For_Kids.cfm
Water Science for Schools: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/
Earth’s Water:https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
Watersheds: https://www.epa.gov/healthywatersheds
WaterSense for Kids: https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-kids
How’s My Waterway: https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/hows-my-waterway
Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-water#wetlands
Drinking Water Kids Stuff: https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/
All Along A River: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/rivers-streams-and-creeks?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
Colorado 4H: http://www.colorado4h.org