Young Voices advocating for improved water quality in local waterways through education, action and policy change.

Students in California who are participating in stormwater education programs have become focused on improving water quality in waterways as an important contribution to saving the planet. These students have discovered, stormwater pollution is a crisis that most individuals, in ways small and large, will contribute to the problem. They understand that regular activities like littering, fertilizing, weed and pest control spraying, driving cars, all contribute to the problem. And that these activities are woven into our daily behaviors. Helping people understand how these behaviors impact water quality, is a critical start. Today, students all over the world are on a mission to bring awareness and affect change in many environmental issues. What is unique about stormwater pollution as an environmental crisis, and why these students are passionate (and the excitement for this abstract to communicate on a national stage), is each of us, through small behavior changes, can make a positive improvement in water quality. Recent research and polls have documented young people's anxiety and mistrust in world leader's ability to affectively deal with greenhouse gas, rising temperatures and polluted oceans. At the same time, we are seeing a youth movement throughout the world taking action to bring attention and passion to force leaders into climate change action. These student presenters are members of that movement. This presentation will be delivered by four student presenters, all members of New Voice Lobby. Some members have spent over five years participating in stormwater education and action. They will discuss how; students, parents, school communities and cities have listened to their ideas acted and changed behaviors. Attendees in the WEF's Stormwater Summit 2022 will hear from members of the younger generation to learn about three projects they have conducted. The presenters will then discuss their recommendations on how attendees can use similar projects and strategies to affect behavior change. In conclusion these students will offer support and help to attendees in how they can reach and motivate young voices throughout the United States to participate in working together to reduce stormwater pollution. These students have presented to school boards, cities, industry groups, at conferences, along with California's regional and state water boards. Hearing from this group of young, knowledgeable, and passionate voices will provide attendees with ideas for source control along with hope and inspiration about the future. New Voice Lobby is loosely organized group of students dedicated to expanding education about stormwater runoff. They are currently lobbying for regulatory changes to include and engage schools, teachers, and students. The presentation will start with an update on their work with the California State Water Board to include language in Phase II Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit renewal along with the Trash Amendment. The goal is to include school districts in the permit process. In meeting annual permit reporting requirements, students want incentives for schools to engage students in meeting permit requirements. Recent changes to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in California are requiring agencies to plan and implement capture or equivalent systems to remove litter from MS4 conveyances in priority land use areas. Enhanced educational programs have been identified as strategies for pollution prevention and source control in the municipal toolboxes to meet these compliance needs. Moving forward, there will be critical compliance needs to monitor, document, and evaluate the relative effectiveness of education and outreach-based strategies to comply with these regulatory drivers. The first project being presented will be the results of the effectiveness of a non-structural trash control BMP on school campus program. The science-based approach used a before/after study design model to document trash load reductions associated with various BMP strategies including a 'social conformity' BMP effort. Trash loads in the identified high priority campus areas were documented before program implementation. The program effectiveness load reductions were documented at program completion. This presentation will present highlights of their 'Non-Structural Trash Control BMP Program.' A second project being presented includes reporting on five-years of data from rain event collections at a school site. Students completed rain event collections using industry standards and sent them to certified labs for testing. During the five years, students implemented both structural and source control BMPs. From cleaning catch basins, sweeping areas, conducting litter pick-up campaigns the efforts and how they were accomplished will be presented. (This effort was acknowledged and supported by the District's Director of Facilities for reducing the workload on custodians, allowing them to focus on other tasks.) The data collected shows reduced pollutant loads flowing off school sites. The third program being presented is the structure followed for student produced SWPPS. Since 2013, over 128 SWPPPs have been produced for school sites in California, Hawaii and Nevada. The SWPPP report and ancillary activities include site maps, monthly visual observation reports, identified polluting activities, infrastructure evaluations. In addition, structural and source control BMPs along with an entire semester worth of peer to peer messaging are included. These reports are presented at a School Board meeting, with students presenting an overview of the year long program (often with an attendance of over 300 enthusiastic members of the community). The meeting concludes with students presenting the completed SWPPPs ready for the Board President's signature The final part of the presentation will focus on how these programs were created and how attendees can use these programs and ideas in their areas of service. In addition, students will report on recommendations they made to City Councils regarding banning of plastic wrapped straw wattles, storm drain stenciling, city stormwater website improvements along with implementation of the 'Adopt a Storm Drain' program. As WEF attendees will learn and experience, these student presenters are passionate about delivering their message on the importance of source control in helping to change individual behaviors to help improve storm water quality.