Public Education and Outreach

To inform UK’s MS4 community (staff, faculty, students, and visitors) about their impact on water quality.

A public education program and public outreach activities must be maintained that focuses on impacts from stormwater discharges to water bodies and the steps that the public can take to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff. This program must

• Prioritize efforts to focus on pollutants impairing or threatening local waterways.
• Demonstrate that education and outreach efforts are targeted to the appropriate audiences and balanced between policymakers, local citizens, and other stakeholders.
• Measure the understanding and adoption of targeted behaviors among the targeted audiences and use this measurement to direct education and outreach resources more effectively and to evaluate changes in adoption of water-quality benefitting behaviors.
• Measure the targeted audiences understanding of their impacts on water quality and the adoption of the behavior changes resulting from the permittee’s public education and outreach efforts and use this information to direct education and outreach resources more effectively.
• Track activities in order to document compliance with the permit and prepare the annual report

Activities that are part of the University’s Stormwater Quality Management Plan include:

• Strengthening the Education and Outreach program through partnership development, specifying a budget for activities, and hiring interns to assist with program efforts.
• Updating and maintaining the stormwater website including the development of an interactive MS4 map and illicit discharge reporting system.
• Developing and maintaining social media accounts.
• Involvement of Student Organizations
• Updating staff training and improving the delivery system
• Update and conduct a campus wide survey to determine the effectiveness of the program
• Develop a stormwater steward certification program (StormCats)

For more information regarding the University’s efforts to meet these MCM requirements please see our SWQMP and Annual Report sections. Here you will find information about our planned tasks, measurable goals, and scheduling as well as information on activities conducted each year. To find stormwater educational materials please visit our Educational Resources page.