The TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Outreach Campaign constitutes the element of the project that is the most fun. TAPP makes every effort to reach a diversity of audiences of all ages throughout the community. The program includes public appearances, distribution of education materials through displays placed at various locations, and booths at local events and festivals. TAPP presenters have talked to neighborhood associations from Myers Park to Miccosukee, governmental, civic and business groups, church groups, local plant nurseries and occasionally elementary and middle school classes. TAPP staff have been active in events supporting Wakulla Springs, and have helped build a number of demonstration rain gardens, one of which is a research garden located on the FAMU campus. The project funds demonstration rain gardens through the Rain Garden Grant Program, which encourages homeowners to slow the flow of stormwater from their yards by installing rain gardens. Outreach presenters have found the groups with which TAPP works to be enthusiastic and receptive to the message of personally protecting water quality, and the success of the TAPP campaign would not be possible without the involvement and support of community leaders.
From 2004 through January 2009, the TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Educational Outreach Campaign had reached over 11,000 people through community group presentations and booths at public events, such as Springtime Tallahassee, the Florida Neighborhoods Conference, the Sustainable Big Bend Green Living Expo, the Wakulla Springs Restoration Workshop and the Springtime Tour of Gardens. In addition, the City of Tallahassee Communications Department inserted a TAPP informational brochure into utility bills that were mailed to 105,000 Tallahassee utility customers in February 2007.
Key Themes for Education are:
- Cumulative effects of our personal habits that contribute to water pollution
- The personal responsibility we all carry to ensure clean water
- Ways each of us unknowing adds to the water pollution problem and how we can help to solve it
- Ways to Slow the Flow of rainwater from our yards
- How to build a rain garden
The emphasis on rain gardens evolved because rain gardens were used elsewhere in the U.S. to help capture rainwater in the yard, preventing substances like gas, oil, fertilizers or pet waste from reaching nearby waterways. The concept is based on the reality that it is easier and less expensive to prevent pollutants from getting into the stormwater stream than it is to clean it up afterwards. A rain garden offers a way that each of us can help to prevent water pollution.
Key Methods of TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Educational Efforts:
→ Presentations to community, neighborhood and business groups
→ Educational materials
→ Rain Garden Grant Program
→ Displays in garden centers, nurseries, local businesses and offices
→ Booths at community events and festivals
→ Articles in neighborhood and community group newsletters
→ Programming on WCOT, the City channel
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Staff
John Cox, Chief of Water Quality for City of Tallahassee Stormwater Management, oversees the TAPP project as part of the City’s Go Green Initiative. Nancy Miller, a biologist and urban planner who has focused on water quality and stormwater pollution for a number of years, has implemented TAPP as Project Coordinator since the project began in 2003. SarahKeith Valentine, who recently received her Masters’ degree in Environmental Science, is the TAPP Representative for the City of Tallahassee. TAPP is fortunate to have talented and well-informed people working with the public, including Master Gardeners Pam Sawyer, retired professor of veterinary medicine, Ed Schroeder, FSU Professor Emeritus, Paul Elliott, and archeologist, Grayal Farr.
Educational Materials
TAPP Guide to a Water-Friendly Yard
TAPP Rain Garden brochure
TAPP informational brochure
TAPP PowerPoint presentations
RainGardens: A How-to Manual for Homeowners
Rain Barrels
Terrain model of the City exhibited at public events and at City Hall
GIS maps of the watersheds of Lakes Jackson, Munson and Lafayette
Presentations
TAPP presentations are offered to all interested groups, no matter how large or small, at virtually any venue. TAPP personnel have presented indoors and outside, in living rooms, churches, government buildings, schools, offices, auditoriums, convention centers and public parks. The main topics covered in each presentation are
· The uniqueness of the geology and hydrology of the Big Bend region
· Why your yard matters
· What you can do to prevent water pollution
This element of the TAPP Campaign, personal interaction, is probably the most effective in reaching people and encouraging changes in the individual behaviors that have the potential to pollute waterways.
Rain Garden Grant Program
Prior to the TAPP Campaign, rain gardens were unheard of here in Tallahassee. The rain garden grant program establishes demonstration rain gardens for people to see. The program began in Spring 2007 and continues today. Over 45 residential rain gardens have been installed, and four non-residential gardens have been planted by volunteers at FAMU, Lee’s Place, Good Shepherd Catholic Church and Temple Israel Synagogue. Each spring, TAPP offers rain garden workshops at Native Nursery, Tallahassee Nursery and Maclay Gardens State Park. Workshops cover specifics on steps to build the garden, common mistakes, and photos accumulated with gardens planted through the grant program. After the garden is planted, attractive signs are put in place and participants allow their gardens to be photographed for three years to assess performance.
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Goodies
Rain gauges – Available at TAPP presentations.
Ducks – As soon as the TAPP “Duck” advertisement was introduced, it quickly became the favorite and most memorable of the TAPP advertisements and led to the adoption of the yellow rubber duck as a program icon. The duck provides a great visual aid to help explain how, if the duck were dropped on this particular spot, he would make his way into the nearest waterway. Available at public events.
Terrain Map – A three-dimensional model of the three major Tallahassee watersheds (Lafayette, Munson and Jackson) has been produced for use in the TAPP booth at community events and workshops. The model visually demonstrates the topography of the area and water flow dynamics. Also, large posters depicting GIS topographical maps allow people to search out their own streets and discover how and where water flows from their individual properties.
Lake watershed bumper stickers – Bumper stickers support the terrain map and the GIS maps where residents can find their properties within their watershed. Available at public events or order online at the TAPP home page.
If you are interested in a TAPP presentation to your community or civic group, please contact SarahKeith Valentine at 891-6860 or Nancy Miller at info@TAPPwater.org
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) is funded in part by a Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Implementation grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the City of Tallahassee through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and administered by the City of Tallahassee Stormwater Management Group as part of Tallahassee's Go Green initiative.