Free stormwater awareness tools available to Grand Strand-area residents

Published: April 3, 2012

Carolina Clear image by: Carolina Clear

CONWAY — From building rain gardens and rain barrels to using fertilizer and general stormwater awareness, the Coastal Waccamaw Stormwater Education Consortium has added a wealth of free education resources to its website.

Click here to visit the resources page.

The tools are designed to help businesses and organizations play a role in keeping area waterways clear of pollution. Resources include information on pet waste, the best plants for rain gardens and rain harvesting, among other subjects.

The website also includes information on the effects of stormwater pollution, user-friendly tool kits to help prevent stormwater pollution and volunteer and involvement opportunities.

Stormwater runoff is the nation’s No. 1 threat to water quality, putting streams, rivers, lakes and beaches at risk. Stormwater is not treated, which means what goes down storm drains ends up in waterways, becoming an environmental and public health concern.

In Horry and Georgetown counties, the Coastal Waccamaw consortium is a regional collaboration involving Clemson University’s Carolina Clear program in partnership with communities and educators from universities, state agencies and nonprofits.

Carolina Clear’s goal is to minimize polluted stormwater runoff by educating the general public, youth, builders, developers, homeowners and government officials about how they can keep water in the state’s streams, rivers and basins as clean as possible.

The consortium includes the Coastal Carolina University Waccamaw Watershed Academy, Murrells Inlet 2020, North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and the Winyah Rivers Foundation Waccamaw Riverkeeper Program.

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