Stormwater Resources for Schools

• Ashland
• Bardstown
• Bowling Green
• Boyd County
• Bullitt County
  • Fiscal Court
  • Planning and Zoning
• Christian County
• Danville
• Elizabethtown
• Florence
• Fox Chase
• Frankfort
• Georgetown
• Glasgow
• Hardin County
• Henderson
• Hillview
  • Online Stormwater Questionnaire
• Hopkinsville
• Hunters Hollow
  • Storm Drainage Ordinance
  • Online Stormwater Questionnaire
• Jessamine County
• Madisonville
• Mayfield
  • Planning and Zoning
  • Ordinances
• Mt. Washington
• Murray
• Nicholasville
• Oldham County
• Owensboro
• Paducah
  • Stormwater Plan
• Pioneer Village
  • Online Stormwater Questionnaire
• Radcliff
• Richmond
• Sanitation District 1 of Northern KY
  • Stormwater Management
  • Stormwater Education for Schools
  • Public Service Park
  • Graphic of Separate Sewer System and Combined Sewer System
• Shepherdsville
• Somerset
• Vine Grove
• Warren County
• West Point
• Winchester
  

MS4 Stormwater Program Overview, Phase II

MCM 1 - Public Education
Webpage and Links
PDF File

MCM 2 - Public Participation
Webpage and Links
PDF File

National Events and Programs

Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.

Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.

Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects.  You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.

National Environmental Education Week
National Environmental Education Week, made possible by Canon, promotes environmental literacy and stewardship among over 3.5 million students annually by creating a full week of environmentally-themed lessons and activities for students in K-12th grade classrooms, home schools, nature centers, zoos, museums and aquariums.
Each year, thousands of educators from across the country use EE Week's online resources to incorporate environmental learning into their classrooms in an educational week-long prelude to Earth Day. Registration for EE Week is free.

North American Association for Environmental Education
NAAEE is the national professional association for environmental education. NAAEE members promote professional excellence in nonformal organizations, K-12 classrooms, universities (both instructors and students), government agencies, and corporate settings throughout North America and in over 55 other countries. Since 1971, the Association has created opportunities for its members to improve their skills in creating and delivering programs and services that teach people how to think, not what to think.

World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.

School Curriculum Materials & Lessons

Education of Young People about Water
Extension Service, University of Wisconsin System
Searchable database by grade level for 150 school curricula

Enviroscapes

Enviroscapes 
Website for manufacturer of realistic, three-dimensional models of watersheds, landfills, wetlands and more. An effective demonstration tool for students interested in learning about point sources and non point sources of water pollution.

Enviroscape Models Available for Loan in Kentucky

EPA

Bookmark

Classroom Education on Stormwater

Community, Culture, and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place

Crossword Puzzle

Kid’s Stormwater Stickers

Kids, Students, Teachers
This EPA website provides information and curricula on educating a variety of age groups on the environment and water pollution.

Nonpoint Source Kids Page – What’s wrong with this Picture

Stormwater Outreach Resources

Student Center

Teaching Resources

EPA Elementary Grades

Environmental Kids Club

EPA Kids Club Membership Application

Interactive Water Cycle

Stormwater Teaching Guide, NSW EPA

EPA Middle Grades & High School

After the Storm
Brochure
Brochure, Spanish

DVD order
This "free" DVD contains a Television program about watersheds that was co-produced by EPA and The Weather Channel.

EPA High School

High School Environmental Center

Protecting Water Quality from Urban Runoff

Water where you live
Click on a map of your state and find water resource information.

Give Water a Hand: For Young People Taking Action in Their Community
Give Water A Hand is a national watershed education program designed to involve young people in local environmental service projects.  Following steps in the Give Water A Hand Action Guide (download it for FREE!), your youth group or class plans and completes a community service project to protect and improve water resources.

Give Water A Hand program activities are presented in two publications -- the youth Action Guide and the Leader Guidebook (for youth leaders and teachers). These easy-to-follow, illustrated guides show how to organize and carry out effective action-oriented projects.  You can obtain the guides for FREE by downloading from this website or the above website.  The Action Guide is also available in Spanish.

Give Water a Hand - Action Guide

Give Water a Hand - Action Guide, Spanish

Giver Water a Hand – Leader Guide

Kentucky Water Awareness Month 
The Kentucky Water Awareness Month 2008 Packet Materials are available online. The packet includes information on stormwater, groundwater, and watersheds, and includes publications, fact sheets, promotional items, radio scripts, and activities. Please feel free to adapt and use the packet information to meet your programming needs.

Kentucky’s Wonderful Commonwealth of Water (K-12)

Kids, Students, Teachers
This EPA website provides information and curricula on educating a variety of age groups on the environment and water pollution.

Lamotte Lesson Plans (Water Quality)
Lamotte-developed lesson plans
These Lesson Plans are provided to help organize an existing curriculum, allowing the teacher to spend more time on hands-on activities that meet key classroom learning objectives and improve student achievement.

Teacher-developed lesson plans
The following lesson plans were developed by educators for use with LaMotte products.

Macro Mania

• Kit

• Site Map

• Stream Water Quality Worksheet

Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park
This website provides curriculum materials for grades K-12 including the following stormwater-related activities:

Secret Sink (Grades 6-8) 

Soda Sink (Grades 6-8)

National Curriculum

Project WET  

Project Learning Tree 

Project WILD K-12 Aquatic Curriculum and Activity Guide

Water Science for Schools
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science for Schools web site offering information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.

Splashing in Kentucky: An Educator's Guide to Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
A variety of lessons and content information for K-12 teachers.

Stormwater Education Toolkit for Youth
Click on “Publications” and view links to a Water Festival Manual, student activities, lesson plans, student worksheets, and educational resources.

Stormwater Outreach Materials and Reference Documents
The electronic files on this page include resources for children.

Student Word Searches

Surveys and Evaluation
A sample collection of educational stormwater surveys.

Water Environment Federation for Students
Check out this web page to download WEF’s materials and curricula for educating various age groups. Also provides information in Spanish.

Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution

Frequently Asked Questions about Stormwater

General Stormwater and Storm Drain Awareness

KYTC Stormwater Webpage

Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox
The Toolbox is intended for use by state and local agencies and other organizations interested in educating the public on nonpoint source pollution or stormwater runoff. The Toolbox contains a variety of resources to help develop an effective and targeted outreach campaign.

Nonpoint Source Pollution Homepage – EPA

Nonpoint Source Pollution Outreach Resources and Websites
This EPA website contains information and links to a variety of non point source pollution documents, factsheets, testimonials, videos and more.

Nonpoint Source Water Pollution

Stormwater Outreach Materials and Reference Documents 
Materials for the general public, homeowners, construction site operators, and children.

What is Stormwater? How Does Stormwater Pollute our Streams?
Animated graphic to illustrate how stormwater runoff occurs and how it carries pollutants to streams

What is Nonpoint Source Pollution and How to Prevent Nonpoint Source Pollution

Stream Monitoring

Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.

Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.

Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects.  You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.

 Izaak Walton League of America—Save Our Streams Program
Save Our Streams (SOS) is a national watershed education and outreach program. Citizen involvement in watershed protection and conservation activities has proven to have measurable, positive results on the quality of our nation's waters. Today, more than ever, citizen involvement is critical to the protection and restoration of America's waters. Recognizing the importance of the work you do, we provide tools and resources to help you conserve local waterways.

Biological Stream Monitoring
This web page provides basic background information concerning biological stream monitoring—why, how, link to publications.

Stream Quality Survey
Sheet to record physical and biological monitoring data.

Where to Purchase Stream Monitoring Equipment

Kentucky Water Watch
The Kentucky Water Watch program is run by the Division of Water in support of all volunteer monitoring efforts statewide.  The Water Watch program is dedicated to helping you protect Kentucky's streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. The Water Watch program accomplishes its goals through volunteer monitoring, community education initiatives and community leadership and action. 

Kentucky Watershed Watch 
Kentucky Watershed Watch is a program conducted by the Kentucky Division of Water with services designed to encourage and support citizen participation in the wise management of community water resources including streams, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater.

Publications:

Watershed Watch Biological Stream Assessment
Watershed Watch Water Chemistry Sampling Methods
Watershed Habitat Assessment Protocols
Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River
An 11x17-inch key to help identify river critters.

Stroud Water Research Center
Through rigorous research, education and public outreach, the Stroud Water Research Center, seeks to advance our global knowledge and stewardship of fresh water ecosystems. Driven by the philosophy that understanding the science of fresh water is fundamental to our ability to protect the integrity of this finite and vital resource, Stroud seeks to disseminate its research findings to its peers in the scientific and educational communities, as well as businesses, landowners, policy makers and individuals, to enable informed decision making that effects water quality and availability in our local communities and the world around us.

They accomplish their goals through the pursuit of both basic and applied scientific research, as well as through educational programs, which serve audiences ranging in age from elementary school children to adults in continuing education programs.

Volunteer Water Monitoring
This EPA site is a good place to start if you want to begin a volunteer water monitoring program.  The site provides methods, a national newsletter, a listserv, conferences and related links.

 Wonderful, Wacky Water Critters
A detailed, illustrated guide to critters commonly found in many waterways. Written for young readers. Describes insects included in river key (see Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River) above.

World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.

Volunteer Programs

Adopt-A-Stream Programs
Partnering with Schools. Many Adopt-A-Stream programs partner with schools to develop interdisciplinary classroom curricula and activities. Through the program, teachers and students adopt a waterway, perform chemical, physical, and biological testing to determine water quality, and perform habitat restoration. Participating in such an interdisciplinary program gives classroom learning a real-life application, enhances students' problem-solving capabilities, and provides community recognition of the students' efforts. Teachers can select projects and activities that best match their students' capabilities and the materials and resources available. The national Adopt-A-Stream organization , as well as numerous agencies nationwide, can provide teacher's guides for developing a classroom Adopt-A-Stream program.

Some schools find it valuable to enlist a co-sponsor, such as a community group or private organization, to aid them in their efforts. Co-sponsors vary in their involvement with the students. Some activities that co-sponsors can undertake include meeting with students to demonstrate community support for their efforts, helping to select an appropriate waterway, providing special information about the waterway, accompanying students on field trips, helping to prepare news releases and articles about the program, providing funds (if necessary), and helping to prepare a written report that compiles all of the data from schools in the watershed. Students and community members can then use this report as a focal point around which to plan strategies for involvement and actions for the coming year.

Adopt Your Watershed
EPA is building a voluntary, national catalog of organizations involved in protecting local water bodies, including formal watershed alliances, local groups, and schools that conduct activities such as volunteer monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects.  You can search the EPA database by state and then by city to find local groups.

Service Learning

Service Learning: Education Beyond the Classroom

Volunteer for Change: A Guide to Environmental Community Service

Learn and Serve America 's National Service Learning Clearinghouse

World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the program engages communities in monitoring the condition of local rivers, streams, estuaries and other water bodies. Since its inception in 2002, more than 80,000 people have participated in 50 countries.

Contacts:
Shelby Jett
Julie Gee
Yvonne Meichtry