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The Ecorse Creek and Combined Downriver
Watershed
Storm Drain Labeling Program
Many of the communities in our area, under the
NPDES Phase II storm water permitting process, are required to
develop a Public Education Plan (PEP), as part of their over all
storm water permit process. The purpose of these plans is to
encourage the residents of their respective communities to reduce
the discharge of pollutants into their storm water systems, through
the use of educational activities.
These educational activities are intended to
instill a sense of stewardship and responsibility for one’s
watershed, by educating the public about storm drain systems and
their potential impact on the receiving water body’s water quality.
It must also present the impacts that are created by illicit
discharges and how to report and prevent such problems. Show the
effects that yard waste, pesticides, fertilizers, automotive fluids
and household cleaning products can have when they are allowed to
flow into the storm drain system. Create awareness to alternative
methods of disposing household and hazardous waste. And finally
promote an understanding of the importance of the value that
riparian and wetland corridors can have in the control and
mitigation of storm water pollutants.
The Storm Drain Curb Marker Labeling Program
The Friends of the Detroit River and the Detroit
Riverkeeper have been working closely with the communities of the
Ecorse Creek and the Combined Downriver Watershed Groups to develop
a program that will help in the in the promotion of storm water
awareness and the problems created when excessive storm water and
related storm water pollution flow into our local creeks and the
Detroit River. We believe that storm drain identification and
awareness is a key component in the process of educating the public
to the implications of storm drain pollution and its’ eventual
reduction. We have been working with these two watershed groups to
develop a program that will take a regional approach to this problem
and utilize the efforts of local Watershed Advisory Groups, which
each community belongs, to promote a uniform program that can be
recognized from community to community.
Step one of the program is the rollout of a
watershed wide effort to get storm drains identified and marked.
Early stenciling efforts, begun during the Phase I period, required
continuous maintenance, since they were painted on, and succumb
rather quickly to the elements. Currently, there is a much better
method of marking storm drain utilizing a plastic label that can be
easily glued in place and will last for many years. Each of the
participating communities have ordered and are in the process of
installing these bright green storm drain labels to the curbs next
to drains in their communities. These markers signify that these
drains collects storm water that drains directly to the river. To
date there have been nearly 13,000 labels ordered and delivered to
the participants.
The second step of this program is to implement
the public education component of this the plan. Storm drain
labeling in itself is not enough to satisfy the requirements of the
Public Education Plan (PEP). Public awareness and involvement is the
key factor in a successful program. These requirements are intended
to be met by facilitating the development of public activities as
well as help to obtain, create and disseminate a number of
educational materials related to storm drain issues and solutions.
Our goal is to help communities organize labeling
campaigns utilizing community based groups, such as; boy scouts,
local environmental groups, school and church youth groups, to help
in the placement of the storm drain labels. While at the same time
work with local media organizations to help promote this program to
the public. There will also be the opportunity to provide classroom,
public display and special event programs as well.
The end result of this process is to make as many
residents and local businesses, in the greater Detroit River
Watershed, aware of storm drain issues using a standardized program
that can be easily duplicated and recognized throughout this region.
The development of a strong storm drain educational program today,
could save our communities substantial money in storm water
mitigation projects in the future.
We would like the thank the communities of the
Ecorse Creek and Combined Downriver Watersheds, who are currently
participating with this program, as well as DTE Energy and the DTE
Foundation, which also provided support for this program.
For further information regarding this program,
please contact:
Robert Burns
Detroit Riverkeeper
1-734-676-4626
subburns@islandconnection.net
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