environmental management

	Case Study
Name:	Stormwater Education and Training Program
Client:	Glenn Innes Municipal Council

Description: Council identified the need for a community education and awareness program to ensure increased understanding of the impacts that individual actions have on local waterways and to encourage the community to take actions to reduce these impacts.

The effective management of both stormwater and the local waterways of Glenn Innes is a shared responsibility requiring the active involvement of Council, landholders, businesses, industry and community. This project involved a number of innovative strategies for raising awareness and changing attitudes of Council staff and the community in relation to stormwater management.

Scope: Our team held initial meetings, reviewed water quality test results and conducted catchment assessments and litter audits to identify the stormwater issues of concern in the Glenn Innes Catchment. The tasks completed included identifying the types and concentrations of pollutants within the urban stormwater system, and developing targeted community education programs (on illegal stormwater connections, dog ownership and littering) to raise awareness of the local stormwater system. This was reinforced through the promotion via local media (in particular radio talk-back programs) of actions to improve water quality.

Teacher training was conducted at all local schools on integrating stormwater education into the school curriculum.

Council staff training on stormwater management and sustainable work practices was conducted for managers and outdoor staff and barriers to adopting better work practices were identified and discussed.

The education campaign was successful in raising awareness of stormwater issues in Glenn Innes and received a great deal of support from the local business community, as well as council staff. Feedback from council staff and the local community was very positive.

Participant Comments:
"Well presented course, great job."