EPA presents Environmental Achievement Award to the Keep it Clean Partnership

On Tuesday, April 10, 2007, the Keep it Clean Partnership, formerly known as the Watershed Approach to Stream Health (WASH) Project, was awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8's Environmental Achievement Award. The award recognizes communities for their significant achievements in protection of public health or the environment.

The Keep it Clean Partnership (KICP) is a regional stormwater quality management program serving the communities of Boulder, Boulder County, Erie, Longmont, Louisville and Superior.

The partnership represents a unique regional approach to water quality management and contributes to statewide stormwater education and outreach activities. The KICP's mascot H2O Jo and the slogan Keep it Clean, 'cause we're all downstream have been used to create a family-friendly message that serves to educate children as well as adults, and a number of these KICP programs have been adopted statewide.

"The Keep it Clean Partnership is a leading example of how local governments can partner to promote environmental awareness and achieve environmental goals", said Janice Lopitz, Keep it Clean partnership coordinator.

EPA Region 8 presents awards in four categories to individuals and groups. The Environmental Achievement Award recognizes significant achievements in the protection of public health or the environment and in advancing the agency's strategic goals. Among the criteria is an outstanding contribution to environmental protection through a single action, or by an ongoing action over an appreciable period of time. For more information about the award, go to www.epa.gov/region8.

KICP Community Outreach for 2006:

  • 69,449 brochures and inserts were distributed to the public.
  • 26,350 take-home materials for the Get to Know Your H2O program were handed out through school education programs.
  • 3,808 BVSD and SVVSD students participated in stormwater education programs, and 216 classroom programs were conducted.
  • 652 storm drains were labeled with the message, Dispose no Waste, Drains to Creek.
  • 2,108 door hangers were distributed as part of the storm drain marking program.
  • 6,166 residents visited the stormwater booths at several community events.
  • 36,000 visits to www.KeepitCleanPartnership.org.
  • 58 residents participated in the Neighborhood Stewardship Program.
  • 234 copies of Adventures of H2O Jo videos were distributed.
  • 368,000 cars travel past the Keep it Clean tributary signs each day.
  • 109 restaurant and 105 vehicle service facility stormwater pollution prevention evaluations were completed.
  • 150 municipal employees received training in stormwater pollution prevention.
  • 49 municipal facilities were visited.
  • 4 newsletters were mailed to 94 municipal employees.
  • 129 participants were provided with construction erosion control training.
  • 9 municipal employees attended a Web cast on streamed restoration and stabilization.
  • 31 municipal employees heard a presentation from the Colorado departments of Transportation and Public Health and Environment on construction compliance and discussed contract language for government construction projects.
  • 15 county employees attended a discussion on rural road construction and maintenance.
  • 150 municipal employees were trained about illegal discharge identification.
  • 186 spills received response.

    For more information about the Keep it Clean Partnership*s stormwater pollution prevention efforts, visit KeepitCleanPartnership.org (http://keepitcleanpartnership.org/) or contact Janice Lopitz, Keep it Clean partnership coordinator, (303) 441-1439 or Curry Rosato, city of Boulder watershed outreach coordinator, (303) 413-7365.

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