How much do you know about stormwater quality?

How much do you want to know?

Go on line now and explore the new watersheds and non-point source website, designed by Chesterton MS4 Operator Jennifer Gadzala in conjunction with Chesterton Middle School, at www.wix.com/MS4Girl/CMS

It’s got a lot of great information and interactive features and it’s perfect for middle-schoolers burning to teach their parents a thing or two about water pollution.

And oh hey, the Stormwater Utility is now on Facebook. As Superintendent Mark O’Dell told the Stormwater Management Board at its meeting Tuesday night, “This social network will be used in various ways to educate the public, gather information on the public’s activities and opinions, and to announce events and other activities which the MS4 program will be developing in the future.”

And—slated for a March 1 launch—the Stormwater Utility will put its own website into cyberspace.

Meanwhile, Gadzala is gearing up for a busy outreach year with a host of projects whose basic message will be this: if you dump it on the ground or spray it on your lawn or let your dog do it in the park, eventually it’s going to end up in Coffee Creek, Sand Creek, or a ditch, then in the Little Calumet River, and then in Lake Michigan.

The projects:

•Gadzala and CMS teacher Sam Hayes will once again hold their watersheds and non-point source education unit this year at the Middle School. Gadzala is currently preparing to submit the program for the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

•A “Keep Chesterton Beautiful” website is presently in the works.

•On Feb. 22 the Duneland elementary schools will begin a paper recycling contest sponsored by the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County.

•Gadzala has asked a local waste management firm for a contribution to cover the costs of a reusable shopping bag give-away program to reduce the waste associated with plastic shopping bags.

•On May 13 there will be a field day for homeschoolers at the Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy District, sponsored by the Conservancy and the Lake Michigan Coastal Program.

•Water conservation posters are in the process of being printed.

•Gadzala is also working with the Chesterton High School Honors Economics class on its Future of Chesterton 2010 “Going Green” municipal project.

•Gadzala is working too with Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg to develop a “Leave It on the Lawn” campaign aimed to reduce the amount of grass clippings dropped off at the town’s recycling site.

•On April 22 Gadzala will deliver a talk on the town’s stormwater website at the annual Indiana State MS4 Conference in Andersonville.

•Finally, Gadzala is writing a second series of educational articles to run later this year in the Chesterton Tribune.

In January the Stormwater Utility ran a deficit of $17,908.

Posted 2/25/2010