Tips for keeping water clean this spring!

Spring is a great time to start thinking about how you can help improve your local water quality. With the spring rains coming, water can pick up pollutants along the way and ultimately end up in our streams, rivers, and lakes. Here are some tips specific to the spring season that you can do to help improve local water quality:

Don’t over-fertilize your lawn: Spring is a common time to fertilize your lawn, but it’s important not to overdo it. Excess fertilizer can run off into nearby waterways and cause harmful algal blooms.

Check for leaks: Spring is a good time to check for leaks in and around your home. For example, indoor and outdoor faucets and household appliances are culprits of leaking. Leaks can contribute to water waste and can also result in excess runoff.

Plant native species: Consider planting native species in your garden this spring. Native plants are adapted to local conditions and require less watering, which means less stormwater runoff. They also provide habitats for local wildlife and help maintain the quality of our waterways.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Black-Eyed Susan: This cheerful yellow flower blooms in late spring and can thrive in a variety of soil types. It’s a great choice for adding color to your garden and providing food for pollinators.

Wild Bergamot: This herb, also known as bee balm, has beautiful purple-pink flowers that attract bees and butterflies. It also has a lovely minty aroma and can be used to make tea.

Muhly Grass: A native plant in the southeastern United States known for its showy pink to purple flowers that bloom in the fall. It is a low-maintenance ornamental grass that is commonly used in landscaping and is drought tolerant once established.

By following these simple tips, you can help protect your local waterways this spring and contribute to a healthier environment for everyone.

CWEP Creek Week 2023 is a wrap!

Dear partners and community members,

We want to express our heartfelt thanks for your outstanding contributions to the CWEP Regional Creek Week. Thanks to your efforts, Creek Week 23′ was an overwhelming success, with a total of 97 events organized across 16 towns and counties, bringing together more than 2,500 participants.

Your dedication to the cause of water quality stewardship was evident in the incredible results of the event. We were thrilled to see that over 23,500 pounds of trash were collected (around 20,000lbs was collected from Durham Creek Week) and more than 700 drains were marked during the week. These impressive numbers are a testament to the hard work and commitment of all involved.

We are incredibly grateful for the time and energy that each and every one of you dedicated to making the CWEP Regional Creek Week a success. Your passion for the environment and the health of our waterways is truly inspiring and serves as an example to others in our community.

Once again, thank you for your participation in this year’s event. Your contributions have made a positive impact on our region’s water quality, and we look forward to next year’s Creek Week to continue this important work.

Sincerely,

The CWEP Team

Get Ready for Creek Week 2023!

CWEP partners have been meeting and planning this year’s Creek Week diligently for months, and now the time is almost upon us. This year is going to be CWEP’s biggest Creek Week yet with events going on across the region including storm drain markings, litter cleanups, library activities, hikes, paddles, workshops, educational lecture series, and more. You can find something to participate in that is happening near you by looking at the list of events on the Creek Week Webpage.

Do you want to participate, but are looking for something that you can do on your own? Look no further than the GSI Oh My Scavenger Hunt! This virtual scavenger hunt will be held on social media through Instagram and Facebook.

How to play:

•Read our posts on social media and our GSI webpage to learn more about Green Stormwater Infrastructure and its relationship with our waterways and community.

•Go explore and find an example of GSI, snap a picture and post on Instagram or Facebook!

•Tag cwep_nc on Instagram or NC Clean Water Education Partnership on Facebook to be entered in a prize drawing that will be held on the 21st and 25th. Feel free to also tag your local government.

•There will be a total of 3 winners. There can be a maximum of 3 entries per person to be entered in the prize drawing, but feel free to post as many pictures of GSI as you would like.

•If your account is not PUBLIC, please direct message your picture.

•Pictures submitted will be saved and added to a GSI photo album on our website!

Need more information on Green Stormwater Infrastructure to help you on your search? Check out this Green Stormwater Infrastructure Website to see examples.

Be Good to the Critters: Don’t Litter!

February flowers bring March showers, and March showers sweep litter into our streams. This means spring is the perfect season to get involved in litter prevention, awareness and education in your community. Here are 5 ways you can get involved:

Volunteer at a litter clean up. Clean Jordan Lake, Keep Durham Beautiful, and Wake County Waste and Recycling are a few examples of organizations who host spring clean ups in the Triangle. 

Host your own creek clean up. Not sure if your community has a clean up? Create your own! Stream Watch is a state-wide community science initiative where groups plan two creek clean ups/water quality monitoring events per year. Contact our stormwater education specialist at cwep@tjcog.org for help picking a safe site, learning how to use the online surveys, and assistance with hosting your first event.

Learn about what happens to your waste. Did you know that Durham and Orange Counties truck their trash over 90 miles away to Montgomery County? Find out what happens to waste in your community by contacting your local government and planning a field trip to your landfill or recycling facility, or check out their website to see if there’s a video.

Promote litter prevention in schools. In Baltimore Maryland, a school-wide ban on styrofoam started by 2 high school students eventually led to a state-wide ban. Organizations like Don’t Waste Durham encourage K-12 education on litter prevention through action projects and volunteering. 

Educate yourself so that you can educate others. Chatham County Solid Waste and Recycling just rolled out a new “Don’t Waste It” curriculum for formal and non-formal K-12 educators. Head over to the department page to find out about upcoming workshops or request one near you. 

Do you have other ideas about how to prevent waste in your community? We would love to hear from you! Drop a comment in the box below or contact CWEP for more information.IMG-7442CWEP member Hannah helping out at a Clean Jordan Lake cleanup this past fall.

Capture It! Enter Raleigh’s Annual Stormwater Arts Contest

Are you or someone you know a creative Raleigh student? Help us spread the word about the City of Raleigh’s annual stormwater arts contest! By entering this contest, students explore the powerful intersections of art, messaging, stormwater education, and community engagement. Winners receive a $500 prize and recognition as a 2020 Raleigh Environmental Award Winner. 

Who: 8th-12th grade students in Raleigh area schools

What: a video or artwork entry showing how to reduce stormwater pollution and protect local waterways. Artwork should be designed to fit on a storm drain or rain barrel.

When: submissions are open until February 3rd, 2020.

How: Register here on the City of Raleigh site. This page also has more details about submission requirements.

Need some inspiration? Click here to watch the video entry winner from last year’s contest.

Image result for storm drain artwork Image result for rain barrel art

Image result for storm drain artwork

Above are some examples of creative stormwater messaging painted on storm drains and rain barrels. If you want to make your own storm drain art design, be sure that it fits within the required dimensions (23.5-inch diameter round or 62.5-inch x 14.5-inch rectangular)

Image 1: City of Raleigh website

Image 3: RVA H20 (Richmond, VA) website

Image 4: WLWT5 News (Cincinatti, OH) website

Image 5: City of Lubbock, TX website