Programs

Interested in a presentation, program, or resource on stormwater pollution prevention for your organization?

We offer educational programs for youth, adults, residential, and professional/technical audiences. This includes schools and universities, civic and youth groups, scout troops, homeowners’ associations, garden clubs, and water quality interest groups. As part of Carolina Clear, SSS leads, supports, and partners on a variety of programs to educate and involve a wide range of audiences in stormwater management and pollution prevention. Contact your local Water Resources Extension Agent for resources, information on upcoming programs, and how we can best meet your needs. Our most popular options are listed below.

Clemson University offers its programs to people of all ages, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital or family status and is an equal opportunity employer.

Should you require special accommodations due to disability, please notify our office ten days prior to the event.

	Rain Barrels: Rain barrels can help you conserve water and reduce runoff. Learn more about rainwater harvesting and water conservation from Clemson’s Rainwater Harvesting Manual for Homeowners.
	Storm drain Marking: Storm drains lead directly to waterways, so it is important to warn people not to put anything down a storm drain. Your group can help by marking storm drains in local neighborhoods or parking lots. We will provide your group with the markers and adhesive. Only rain down the storm drain!
	4-H2O - Exploring Watershed summer camps: 4H2O is a water-based 4-H science camp that runs in more than 15 counties across South Carolina, allowing students an opportunity to learn and experience this state’s water resources first-hand. The camps focus on hands-on science inquiry to provide children and adults with knowledge about their local water resources and teach them the field, analytical and critical thinking skills they need to participate in water quality protection.
	Carolina Rain Garden Initiative: The Carolina Rain Garden Initiative provides tools and resources to assist with the installation of rain gardens in diverse settings such as yards, schoolyards, community centers and more. Follow this link to learn more about the Master Rain Gardener program.
	Keep Sumter Beautiful: Keep Sumter Beautiful is housed within Sumter’s Clemson Extension office. We loan out litter clean-up supplies, install litter-reduction and beautification projects, and teach about litter prevention at local schools and civic organizations.
	FOG Packets: Fats, Oil, and Grease (FOG) clog drains and contribute to water pollution. Get a packet of information for restaurants or school cafeterias.
	Teacher trainings and classroom presentations: Water Resource Extension agents visit classrooms to share water quality lessons with students, and lead teacher trainings to help integrate water resources concepts into school curricula. Projects, demonstrations, and videos on various stormwater topics can be developed in collaboration with teachers.

	Rain Barrels: Rain barrels can help you conserve water and reduce runoff. Learn more about rainwater harvesting and water conservation from Clemson’s Rainwater Harvesting Manual for Homeowners.
	Storm drain Marking: Storm drains lead directly to waterways, so it is important to warn people not to put anything down a storm drain. Your group can help by marking storm drains in local neighborhoods or parking lots. We will provide your group with the markers and adhesive. Only rain down the storm drain!
	Pet Waste Projects: Keep bacteria pollution out of our waterways by picking up pet waste. When left on the ground, bacteria, viruses, and parasites found in pet waste can be transported directly to creeks, streams, and rivers through stormwater runoff. As you can imagine, that can have negative impacts on water quality and human health. Picking up after your pet is not just a courtesy, it is the healthy and environmentally sound thing to do.
	SC Adopt-A-Stream: The SC Adopt-A-Stream program is led in a partnership between SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and the CU Center for Watershed Excellence. Volunteers are trained annually by certified trainers to become stewards and monitors of South Carolina rivers. To learn more about SC Adopt-A-Stream and kit loaning in Pickens County, Anderson County, and on Clemson’s campus, contact your local Water Resources Agent.
	Be Well Informed:  Clemson Extension's Be Well Informed is an education program that provides private drinking well owners with the opportunity to learn about well maintenance best practices and water quality. As part of this program, participants can have their well-water screened for recommended parameters that include information on pH, salinity, nitrates, and pathogen presence.
	Stream Bank Repair:  Clemson's Stream Bank Repair program works with homeowners, land managers, park staff, and landscape professionals to address unhealthy stream banks that are suffering from erosion and instability. Workshops will provide insight on how watersheds function and will identify steps needed to stabilize and revegetate stream banks.
	Master Naturalist:  The South Carolina Master Naturalist Program is a statewide corps of volunteers providing education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. Interested South Carolinians become Master Naturalists through training and volunteer service.
	Carolina Yards:  Clemson Extension's Carolina Yards program works with residents to create healthy, watershed-friendly landscapes. Using simple and effective gardening methods, create a low maintenance yard that works with nature, rather than against it. Carolina Yards also regularly offers a five-week, online course designed to help Carolina gardeners learn to grow and maintain a low maintenance and low impact yard.
	Master Rain Gardener:  The Master Rain Gardener program is a hybrid course consisting of self-paced online learning modules, hands-on field experiences, and multiple track options to meet the needs of diverse audiences interested in designing and installing rain gardens.
	Master Gardener:  The Clemson Extension Master Gardener Program trains, selects, and utilizes knowledgable volunteers to facilitate the educational work of the local Consumer Horticulture Agent, by delivering research-based information to citizens of the state.
	Master Pond Manager:  The Master Pond Manager achievement course is designed to teach participants a wide range of pond management knowledge and skills. As a "hybrid" course combining online and face-to-face learning, it incorporates self-paced lectures, discussion, quizzes, and other web-based methods of participant-instructor interaction, along with hands-on participation activities in the field.
	SC Stormwater Pond Management Website:  The SC Stormwater Pond Management website assists homeowners associations (HOAs), community managers, property management companies, and waterfront residents with choosing the best management options for maintaining their stormwater ponds. This site includes a diagnostic tool that provides recommendations for fixing and preventing common problems that develop as stormwater ponds age. These include aquatic weeds, fish kills, shoreline erosion, poor water quality, nuisance wildlife, and much more.
	Stormwater-related Workshops:  Conducted regularly by Water Resource Extension agents, reoccurring program topics include shore scaping, floating wetlands, rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, gardening with native plants, composting, and more.
	Keep Sumter Beautiful: Keep Sumter Beautiful is housed within Sumter’s Clemson Extension office. We loan out litter clean-up supplies, install litter-reduction and beautification projects, and teach about litter prevention at local schools and civic organizations.

	Stream Bank Repair:  Clemson's Stream Bank Repair program works with homeowners, land managers, park staff, and landscape professionals to address unhealthy stream banks that are suffering from erosion and instability. Workshops will provide insight on how watersheds function and will identify steps needed to stabilize and revegetate stream banks.
	Master Pond Manager:  The Master Pond Manager achievement course is designed to teach participants a wide range of pond management knowledge and skills. As a "hybrid" course combining online and face-to-face learning, it incorporates self-paced lectures, discussion, quizzes, and other web-based methods of participant-instructor interaction, along with hands-on participation activities in the field.
	Master Rain Gardener:  The Master Rain Gardener program is a hybrid course consisting of self-paced online learning modules, hands-on field experiences, and multiple track options to meet the needs of diverse audiences interested in designing and installing rain gardens.
	Master Gardener:  The Clemson Extension Master Gardener Program trains, selects, and utilizes knowledgable volunteers to facilitate the educational work of the local Consumer Horticulture Agent, by delivering research-based information to citizens of the state.
	Master Naturalist:  The South Carolina Master Naturalist Program is a statewide corps of volunteers providing education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. Interested South Carolinians become Master Naturalists through training and volunteer service.
	Post Construction Best Management Practice Inspector:  The Post-Construction BMP Inspector program trains professionals in methods and strategies for conducting routine and thorough inspections of stormwater management practices.
	Certified Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Inspector (CEPSCI): The purpose of the CEPSCI Program is to educate field personnel on the proper installation, maintenance and inspection of erosion prevention and sediment control measures at construction sites to meet state and local regulations.
	Certified Stormwater Plan Reviewer (CSPR):  The purpose of the CSPR Program is to educate personnel on the proper design and review of stormwater and sediment control plans for development sites to meet state and local regulations.
	Silt Fence and Beyond:  Erosion and Sediment Control Best Practices Workshop - The Silt Fence and Beyond is a workshop for contractors, inspectors, and regulators who wish to learn more about saving time and money on job sites through proper selection, installation, and maintenance of construction BMPs.
	Stormwater BMP demonstration project installations: Small-scale residential stormwater best management practices (BMPs) such as rain gardens, vegetated shoreline buffers, and rain barrels are regularly installed in collaboration with partnering communities, schools, or parks. Installed projects serve as educational tools to encourage BMP adoption throughout the community.
	SC Stormwater Pond Management Website:  The SC Stormwater Pond Management website assists homeowners associations (HOAs), community managers, property management companies, and waterfront residents with choosing the best management options for maintaining their stormwater ponds. This site includes a diagnostic tool that provides recommendations for fixing and preventing common problems that develop as stormwater ponds age. These include aquatic weeds, fish kills, shoreline erosion, poor water quality, nuisance wildlife, and much more.
	FOG Packets: Fats, Oil, and Grease (FOG) clog drains and contribute to water pollution. Get a packet of information for restaurants or school cafeterias.
	Stormwater-related Workshops:  Conducted regularly by Water Resource Extension agents, reoccurring program topics include shore scaping, floating wetlands, rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, gardening with native plants, composting, and more.