A team of Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward volunteers in Monroe County is helping Stroud Township save money while enhancing water quality in the region.
These Master Watershed Stewards — the Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination team — perform stormwater outfall inspections on behalf of the township. Outfalls are places where stormwater runoff empties into creeks, rivers and lakes, and contaminants in runoff can pollute these waterways.
Outfall inspections, crucial for protecting water quality, typically are carried out by engineering firms at $50-75 per hour. However, the volunteers perform this service for free.
The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or MS4, program employs structures such as retention basins, ditches, roadside inlets and underground pipes that collect stormwater from urban areas and discharge it untreated into local water bodies. Communities classified as “Urbanized Areas” by the U.S. Census Bureau must participate in this program, managed in Pennsylvania by the Department of Environmental Protection under the federal Clean Water Act.
Read more HERE
