Regional Stormwater MS4 Program

The Stormwater Trained Individual Contractor Certification meets the federal and state requirements for the certification of Trained Individuals (or Qualified Persons) to oversee the installation, maintenance, and management of erosion and sediment control practices at sites with IDEM Construction Stormwater General Permits (CSGP).

Members of the MS4 Regional Partnership Receive:

• Ownership over a high-quality training organized by the White River Alliance.
• A limited number of free registrations to attend the annual in-person full training as well as the online continuing education program.
• Access to an online tracking portal for individuals who have been certified through the program.

Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Training is a self-paced, free, online training program that educates stormwater post-construction best management practices (BMPs) owners on how to property maintain the BMPs they are responsible for.

Members of the MS4 Regional Partnership Receive:

• Reportable insights on training participation within your community.
• Go-to resource to assist with answering property owner questions – link directly from the municipal website.
• Ability to incorporate into local requirements for BMP maintenance.

Clear Choices Clean Water® is a national award-winning public education and outreach program that seeks to increase awareness about the daily choices we can make as individuals to improve water quality and conserve water supplies.

Clear Choices has 13 topical campaigns (act on climate change, be a stream steward, be a super kid, conserve water, don’t feed waterfowl, grow soil health, maintain your septic, only rain down the drain, plant and care for trees, plant natives, pick up pet poo, stop and prevent litter, use less fertilizer) designed to inspire behavior change.

Members of the MS4 Regional Partnership receive:

• Monthly social media packets on each topic for easy online posting.
• Coordinated “bulk buys” of ready-made, professional-quality outreach materials including:
  • Postcards with individual MS4 logos for each campaign which provide important context and an opportunity to take an action pledge. They make perfect handouts at events or presentations.
  • Pull-up banners and hanging outdoor banners (such as ‘pick up pet poo’ at dog parks) for each campaign.
  • Super Kid activity packets, bookmarks and stickers.
  • Native plant seeds packets with custom graphics and stormwater messaging.
• The bulk buy also includes a variety of topic-specific handouts developed in partnership with program members (fats, oils, and grease; salt trucks and applications, fertilizer applicators, construction violations, general stormwater guidance, and more).
• Annual report of Clear Choices Clean Water action pledges taken each year.
• Access to backend data showing where action pledges were taken, where the user learned about the program, and more.

River Assessment Field Teams (RAFT) are advanced citizen science volunteers who collect water quality samples to fill agency data gaps, identify pollution hotspots, and measure changes over time in our local streams.

Members of the MS4 Regional Partnership Receive:

• Access to focused water monitoring data that meets IDEM Tier 2 and 3 standards of the External Data Framework.
• Assistance in the identification of pollution hot spots.

• Membership in the White River Alliance, which allows members to leverage other activities of the White River Alliance such as social media outreach, presentations to elected officials, mass media coverage, professional conferences like the Indiana Water Summit and Science and Policy Forums, and more.
• Annual report that includes data for MS4’s annual reporting to IDEM.
• Stormwater model for hands-on learning at events.
• Participation in annual work plan and budget prioritization for MS4 Regional Program.

The scale of the water quality and quantity problems in Central Indiana requires coordinated regional action and the engagement of thousands of citizens. Every community shares the same common sources of pollution and the critical need for cooperation in regard to managing water supplies. Common messages create bigger impact and allow us to engage many partners in the same call-to-action efforts. By developing and implementing a common stormwater outreach and engagement program under the Alliance, we are able to leverage financial and communication resources across communities, as well as seek grants unique to non-profit organizations and leverage the reach of significant non-municipal partners like museums, universities, state parks, etc. We also help coordinate bulk buys of outreach materials at lower prices, team up on incentive programs, and share physical training resources such as our table-top storm drain model.