Clean Water Campaign

The LI Group is working toward a campaign on water issues, including planning and securing funding for a clean water campaign. Part of our local group’s activity means working with the national Sierra Club clean water committee. Phone conferences are held every few months, and the committee is developing resources, starting with a new website: www.stopsewage.org. This brand new resource contains (or will contain) factsheets and toolkits for improving water. We are working to become certified under the Sierra Club's Water Sentinels program.

Goals[]

To develop regional water testing programs for implementation by middle and high school students and teachers, community groups, local governments, and individuals.
To develop an accessable database with these water samples.
To integrate this database with existing geographic and geologic databases.

Start with pilot programs along the Peconic and south eastern Long Island watersheds.

Background Research[]

Existing programs with minor/no overlaps

US EPA adopt a watershed partners for LI Sound -mainly disparate efforts

http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/huc.cfm?huc_code=02030201

Riverkeeper has a private monitoring program with tie-ins to schools that request (but not the water quality sampling we are proposing)

http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/watershed_education/the_facts/1210

Soundwaters- one time monitoring program. Great example of curriculum conscious grant writing for ct. :::http://www.soundwaters.org/education/middle/coastal/
Clearwater www.clearwater.org in-classroom education and onboard (sloop) and resource center- water monitoring onboard,
Community Resource Inventory (CRI) Online- sponsored by the Connecticut NEMO program, the site provides comprehensive environmental, cultural, and economic resource data of Connecticut communities. Want to know the amount of tidal wetlands, or the water quality of streams and lakes, in your community? CRI has it.

http://clear.uconn.edu/projects/cri/interactive.htm

http://clear.uconn.edu/projects/cri/cri_online/00a_start.asp

NY Sea Grant (LI SOUND) is NEMO project for NY (and LI info) but no CRI. Supposedly CRI is being expanded to other states but NY is not on the schedule.

http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/nemo/article.asp?ArticleID=227

Long Island overlaps

Adopt-A-School Program - The Long Island Chapter of the New York Water Environment Association expanded its Adopt-A-School Program to the middle schools in the drainage areas of Long Island Sound. The program involved the purchase of videos with workshop manuals and teacher guides from the Water Environment Federation for distribution to middle schools. The videos covered water conservation and wastewater treatment and were distributed to the schools by a chapter member for presentation and discussion. Seventeen schools in Nassau and Suffolk County were adopted.

Contact: Ben Wright, Chief Engineer, Division of Sanitation, LI Chapter of the New York Environment Association, c/o Suffolk County Department of Public Works, 335 Yaphank Avenue, Yaphank, NY 11980.