News & Information

The Wallkill River Watershed Management Group won a Governor's Environmental Excellence Award in the Environmental Education category for the Stormwater Summer Camp held at McKeown Elementary School in Hampton.

NJDEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe, Eric VanBenschoten (SCMUA-Wallkill River Watershed Management Group), Kristine Rogers (SCMUA-Wallkill River Watershed Management Group), Brenda Delgrosso (McKeown School Science Teacher), Nathaniel Sajdak (SCMUA-Wallkill River Watershed Management Group), and David Zimmer (NJ Infrastructure Bank)

Environmental Education (Educator-led)
Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
Remember when summer camp meant days swimming and splashing around in a lake? For students taking part in Stormwater Summer Camp, activities still involve water – but have a "green" goal. The third annual camp, funded by NJ Future and held in July at Marian E. McKeown Elementary School in Hampton, saw students building water filters, getting their hands dirty in the school's 3,865-square-foot rain garden and observing the installation of porous asphalt in the school parking lot. The camp, conducted by the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group (part of the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority), included stormwater-themed STEM activities and off-campus field trips to teach the campers about water pollution and conservation, project planning and design, and stormwater management using nature-based solutions. The efforts at the Sussex County school help to capture stormwater from its facilities so that polluted runoff won't flow into the Paulins Kill River directly across the street.