Why Is Public Participation and Involvement Necessary?
EPA believes that the public can provide valuable input and assistance to a regulated small MS4’s municipal stormwater management program and, therefore, suggests that the public are given opportunities to play an active role in both the development and implementation of the program. An active and involved community is crucial to the success of a stormwater management program because it allows for:
- Broader public support since citizens who participate in the development and decision-making process are partially responsible for the program and, therefore, may be less likely to raise legal challenges to the program and more likely to take an active role in its implementation;
- Shorter implementation schedules due to fewer obstacles in the form of public and legal challenges and increased sources in the form of citizen volunteers;
- A broader base of expertise and economic benefits since the community can be available, and free, intellectual resource; and
- A conduit to other programs as citizens involved in the stormwater program development process provide important cross-connections and relationships with other community and government programs. This benefit is particularly valuable when trying to implement a stormwater program on a watershed basis, as encouraged by EPA.
What Bowling Green is Doing
City staff leads interested organizations on watershed cleanups and Stormwater curb marking projects. Curb marking involves installing a plastic disk that says “Dump No Waste, Drains to River, Keep it Clean Bowling Green”. All participants in cleanups and curb marking events receive a goodie bag of Stormwater materials. If you are interested in conducting a cleanup or curb marking activity, contact Nick Lawhon at 270-393-3671 or by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org.
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