Faced with local and state agencies that
are perpetually understaffed and overstretched
and a construction and development industry
with a history of widespread problems in runoff
prevention and treatment, Waterkeeper
organizations across the United
States are launching their own
citizen inspection and monitoring
programs. The program is called Get the
Dirt Out, and is based on Upper
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s successful
program of the same name, launched in 2005 in
Georgia with
six other Waterkeeper organizations and two
local partners. They held 30 workshops,
trained more than 500 citizens, and conducted
more than 100 site inspections across the
state.
At the end of their two-year program,
the Georgia Waterkeepers used their data and
experiences to make 20
specific recommendations to the state to
better protect their water resources from
construction stormwater, including
appropriating existing permit fees to fund
improved erosion and sediment control programs,
revising Georgia's standards for reducing
construction runoff, and developing a statewide
database to track site complaints and agency
responses.
On the heels of Georgia’s successes, ten
Waterkeeper organizations in North Carolina adapted
Get the Dirt Out to create their own
construction stormwater program, called Muddy
Water Watch and five Waterkeeper
organizations in Alabama have also adopted
the model. Waterkeepers Chesapeake is
also launching Get
the Dirt Out in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Washington D.C., and Virginia.
