Thank you to all who submitted to our stormwater art contest which ran from August 5th to September 5th. Over the fall and winter months, we will be featuring submissions as our website headers. Maddie, our week 2 winner, took the photo that is featured as our new website background!

Winners will receive CWEP giveaways including a set of reusable straws. Check out our virtual gallery below to see the artwork submissions.

Below are the announcements of our winners! Congrats to all of you. Scroll through to see photos of the artwork and descriptions from the artists of what inspired their piece.

Streets to Creeks Stormwater Art Competition

August 4, 2020August 4, 2020Leave a comment

When? August 5-September 5th, 2020

Who? Open to all ages!

To celebrate National Water Quality Month, the Clean Water Education Partnership invites you to create an art piece that shows how you interact with your watershed. A watershed is an area of land that all drains to the same creek, stream, or river. Everyone lives in a watershed!

Your art piece must somehow incorporate the name of the watershed you live in. Type your address into this interactive map to find your watershed .

Or, you can discover your river basin (a larger-scale watershed) by looking at this interactive map.

Get inspired by a few of these ideas:

Use non-toxic sidewalk chalk to draw a watershed message to others in your neighborhood
Create a poster with cool facts and photos from your watershed that you can share with others
Draw or take a picture of one of your favorite plants or animals in your watershed
Make a sculpture out of litter you find in your watershed

A stormwater art installation that doubles as a rainwater harvester (Binford Green Schools Initiative, Chesepeake Bay)

“Protect our Watersheds” art competition submission (Pennsylvania American Water)

Your art piece can be in any medium you choose as long as you can take a photo of it.

Winners will have a photo of their art piece featured as the homepage header on the CWEP website and receive a CWEP Swag Bag with fun giveaways in the mail. Art will also be used by CWEP to create a set of greeting cards for our fall BioThon competition. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners will be chosen weekly.

This competition is open to all ages. Children under 13 must have an adult submit their art piece.

Art can be submitted through this google form. If you have any questions please contact Hannah Barg, the CWEP Education and Outreach Coordinator at hbarg@tjcog.org.

Water-Based Distance Learning Activities

March 30, 2020June 15, 2020Leave a comment

With the increase amount of school, workplace, library, and community space closures, you might be looking for some ideas to pass the time with your children. Here are some water-based/ STEM activities to pass the time while learning about water.

Go on a water scavenger hunt! Using the image below, make a checklist or take photos of the following items to keep track of what you find!

Sidewalk water painting. Sidewalk painting can happen with paint brushes and water, too! Watch in fascination as your designs disappear slowly because of evaporation. This is a great opportunity to begin teaching younger children about the wonders of the water cycle. This activity is best done on a sunny day.
Is it raining outside? Take your child on a rainy day walk! Follow the water from the gutters to see where it ends up. What did you find along the way?
Teach your child about the water cycle using their bodies through water cycle yoga. Visit this link if you need some inspiration for how to facilitate it!

(Image Courtesy of Durham Hub Farm)

Make your own mini water cycle using a to-go or old food container with a clear top. Fill the container with rocks, grass, plants, and other found items, mist with a bit of water, set in the sun, and see what happens!
Does your child like to color and read? Learn about stormwater runoff with the Stormwater Sleuth and Running Rain activity book put together by University of Nebraska- Extension. This activity book is geared towards 4^th-8^th grade students.

For a complete list of activities and online resources, please visit the new Distance Learning page

Stream Stewardship Opportunity: Join NC Stream Watch!

February 10, 2020June 15, 2020Leave a comment

Are you looking for a local stewardship opportunity? Do you enjoy picking up trash or water quality monitoring? If so, you should join NC Stream Watch!

NC Stream Watch is a state-wide community science engagement program created by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). NC Stream Watch showcases the wide diversity of watersheds across the Mountains, Piedmont and Coastal Plains regions of the state and gives folks an opportunity to engage with their local waterways. Any interested group can participate in Stream Watch, including scout troops, church volunteers, key clubs, or school programs. The minimum requirements are to do two trash cleanups per year and take a photo and GPS location of your stream site.

This spring, CWEP is launching an NC Stream Watch Train-the Trainer series. Community groups in member local governments can contact CWEP to be trained as a Stream Watch leader and we will join you for your first event. CWEP will train leaders how to fill out the online monitoring surveys and choose a safe site. We will also provide materials such as macroinvertebrate sampling equipment and chemical water quality testing kits to enhance the environmental education opportunities at the first event.

Please contact the CWEP AmeriCorps member at cwep@tjcog.org if you are interested in a training and visit the NC DEQ Stream Watch site for more information about the program.

Traveling Back in time on the Neuse River

December 2, 2019June 15, 2020Leave a comment

CWEP AmeriCorps member Hannah has been hard at work developing stormwater/ watershed curriculum geared towards high school students for direct education visits in member communities. Based on an Environmental Justice timeline activity she did at the National Environmental Justice Conference in Washington D.C., Hannah developed a “History of the Neuse River” timeline. During this interactive lesson, students work in small groups to match photos with their corresponding event and attempt to put the events in order. This activity is meant to familiarize students with their local watershed and give context for the specific water quality issues in their river basin. The lesson is designed to be general enough that students throughout the Neuse River Basin can use it. Hannah is in the process of creating a similar timeline for the Cape Fear River Basin in addition to creating lesson continuations that teachers can use in the classroom.

Accompanied by members, Hannah will be piloting this lesson at South Granville, East Wake, and Holly Springs High School the first week of December.

To see an interactive electronic version of the timeline, please visit the following link:

History of the Neuse: Full Timeline

Below is the summarized version of the timeline, for quick reference.

And That’s a Wrap! FY 2019 Highlights

August 15, 2019June 15, 2020Leave a comment

We finished up our Outreach and Education for the Fiscal Year 2019- and what a year it has been!! We interacted with over 3,000 individuals in CWEP regions over the course of the previous ten months on all things stormwater. A total of 146 hours were spent administering, leading, or aiding in programs across the state! The age range of our audiences ranged from Pre-K-Adult for all events and programs. In addition, we reached our main goal of aiding in or leading a program for all 37 of our member communities throughout the year- meeting both Public Participation & Involvement and Public Outreach & Education NPDES MS4 Minimum Measures. While we reached all 37 communities, a total of 71 programs, events, and meetings took place with about 1-3 visits/member.

Focused educational themes included the water cycle, macroinvertebrates, litter/trash, pet waste, lawn waste, fertilizer/pesticides, household waste, and vehicle pollutants. Check out our program and service menu guide here to learn more about the services we can provide you!

Programs and events ranged from libraries, schools, farmer’s markets, festivals, fairs, workshops, summer camps, Boys and Girls Clubs, scout groups, Parks & Rec programs, YMCA’s, training high schools, and more! CWEP also had several meetings with our member representatives about future events and how CWEP can aid their communities going forward.

We can’t wait to see what 2019-2020 has in store for us! Check out some images from the fun we had this past year here! Also, keep checking back in for our Annual Report FY19 which will be published on our Public SharePoint archive site in the near future. Enjoy the rest of your summer and we will see you soon this fall!

New CWEP Members: Fayetteville and Nashville

August 1, 2019June 15, 2020Leave a comment

Fayetteville and Nashville joined the Clean Water Education Partnership on July 1st, and we are excited to have them! Shauna Haslem is the contact for Fayetteville and Julie Spriggs is the contact for Nashville. Existing members, take a moment to welcome them and swap stormwater ideas!

Shauna Haslem is the Public Information Specialist/Stormwater Educator for the City of Fayetteville, NC. She coordinates media and public outreach for the Public Services department, focusing on the Stormwater program. This includes media inquiries, publication development, website development, and management of social media accounts. In addition, she is passionate about providing top-notch stormwater education to school-aged children in the Fayetteville area, and conducts education programs when the many other hats she wears allow. She looks forward to having the new CWEP AmeriCorps provide a pair of helping hands in stormwater education efforts!

Julie Spriggs is the Planning Director for the Town of Nashville, NC. In her role, she uses skills she has gained as a GIS professional and planner to guide Nashville’s growth and development while taking into account stormwater management impacts. She looks forward to having CWEP’s AmeriCorps come out and do stormwater education in Nashville, as well as being able to take advantage of all the mass media educational materials CWEP has developed.

CWEP looks forward to serving these two -villes’ stormwater education needs!

Calling all Watershed Educators!

May 15, 2019June 15, 2020Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again! We’re starting the search of our new AmeriCorps Service Member for the 2019-2020 term. Gain experience planning and leading stormwater education programs and engaging 37 communities in environmental stewardship! This is also a great opportunity to see the inner workings of local government, meet people, and learn new skills related to all things stormwater! Click on the link below for more information and to apply.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY OR LEARN MORE

How is CWEP celebrating Earth Day this Year?

April 17, 2019June 15, 2020Leave a comment

With Earth day around this corner, CWEP is ramping up direct education efforts this week and we have a lot in store for our members!

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day now includes events in more than 193 countries, which are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. People march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads on this day. Corporations and governments also use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Earth Days theme for 2019 is Protect Our Species.

CWEP is celebrating the week of Earth Day with MANY plans! First we headed to Middlesex Elementary on April 16th for a Water focused Earth Day of fun with the K-5th grades! We saw a total of 313 kids in one day!

We are now heading out to visit our coastal members, Havelock, New Bern, and Kinston, for the week to do programs with their schools, libraries, Parks and Rec, and after schools groups all focused on stormwater education and why we need to keep our waterways clean!

Finally, on Earth Day this coming Monday April 22nd, we will be back in Durham aiding in an EPA Science Day at Bethesda Elementary School! Then later in the week, we will be traveling to Hillsborough to table at a “Last Fridays” Earth Evening themed event on April 26th!

CWEP has a lot in store for our member communities this week and beyond! We are excited to be coming out soon.

Happy Earth Day from CWEP!