WREN Briefs
|
WREN Watershed Education
Grants available
Application Deadline
March 26, 2010
more ...
*****
Drinking Water Protection Workshop
March 9, 2010
Bethlehem, PA
more ...
*****
Looking for info on Social Marketing?
more info ....
pubs ....
*****
Looking for Marcellus Shale gas info?
Check out
LWVPA's
Marcellus Shale Gas study
|
WREN January Feature
|
Driveway Sealants and House Dust
A new study by USGS looks at amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in "settled household dust" and found considerably higher amounts of PAH in apartments with coal tar sealed parking lots.
Read more ...
|
Grants Go Green
|
DCNR 2010 C2P2 grant round open. See workshop schedule. Application deadline is April 21, 2010.
DCNR has developed a Green Grant selection criteria and a webpage to serve as a clearinghouse for green recreation and conservation
information.
Environmental eGrants provide an environmentally friendly (and required) way to submit a grant application to DEP and DCNR.
|
|
Join Our List
|
|
|
|
MESSAGE FROM WREN PROJECT DIRECTOR
|
|
Greetings WREN Grant Project Leaders*,
In the past few months, my In-box has been
filling with lots of proofs for your project products. It is great that you are busy completing the
deliverables promised for your 2009-2010 WREN Projects.
However, I am noticing a recurring
problem. It has to do with
readability. WREN has emphasized repeatedly
that we must create our project products (brochures, placemats, signs, etc.) so
that the average person can understand the message we are trying to convey!
Readability
is a common writing challenge. When writing for the public, we hope you will aim for a Readability score
between 60 and 70 and an eighth grade level.
I
hope the following information helps you achieve this goal.
*Anyone writing for the general public can benefit by checking "readability."
Thanks,
Julie |
|
HOW TO TEST FOR READABILITY |
|
|
 Readability
scales are included with many popular software packages.
To turn this feature on in Microsoft Word,
please take the following actions:
- On the Tools menu,
click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar
tab.
- Select the Check grammar
with spelling check box.
- Select the Show
readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
On the Standard
toolbar, click Spelling
and Grammar.
When
Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it will display
information about the reading level of the document, including the readability scores from Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade level. Each readability score bases its rating on the average
number of syllables per word and words per sentence.
|
|
SOCIAL MARKETING TIPS AND TOOLS
|
|
Advocating for change .... Change for good .... Forget the general public
..... sometimes the message is the messenger .... Say what you mean ....
These are just some of the phrases you come across while browsing the Social Marketing websites and publications you'll find on the WREN website. Social marketing uses general marketing techniques to bring about change, whether individual behavior change or improved social policy. Browse the pubs and websites listed on the WREN website to learn more. A good place to start is The Little Book of Social Marketing. WREN grantees who use social marketing tools have found they are more successful in their education efforts and more likely to see positive changes in their communities. |
PA WATER SYMPOSIUM IN MAY
|
|
 May 6, 2010
Penn Stater Conference Center
State College, PA
The symposium will showcase water resources research and outreach being conducted by faculty,
students, and professionals throughout Pennsylvania. This year's symposium theme
is Groundwater and Surface Water: One Resource.
Presentations and posters are expected on a wide range of water resources topics
relevant to Pennsylvania including health issues, water treatment, hydrologic
processes, watershed management, wellhead protection, water well studies, water
reuse and conservation, emerging contaminants, groundwater monitoring, aquifer
studies, groundwater/surface water interactions, wastewater, water issues
related to energy extraction, and water education and outreach. Abstracts for
posters and oral presentations will be accepted through February 2, 2010.
Sponsors are Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, Penn State Master Well Owner Network, Penn State
Environmental and Natural Resources Institute, and the Penn State Institutes of
Energy and the Environment. Registration fees will be low due to generous support from the sponsors.
Questions about the Pennsylvania Water Symposium can be directed to Bryan
Swistock (brs@psu.edu) or Stephanie Clemens (mwon@psu.edu).
Registration info will be posted on the WREN Calendar in early February. |
|
ALLENTOWN, PA -- A CASE STUDY IN COOPERATION
|
|
 Protecting Parks and Water Supply
A beautiful system of parks runs through the City of Allentown, centered on the Little Lehigh Creek and the Lehigh River. These streams are also the source of the City's drinking water. The City's Water Resources Bureau and Parks Department teamed up on a WREN funded project to protect the streams. The project makes the connection between healthy riparian buffers and protection of drinking water sources.
Working with partners Wildlands Conservancy, the Allentown Shade Tree Commission and Environmental Advisory Council and others, the City has developed a year-long education and outreach campaign to bring the clean water message to City residents and Parks Department and Water Resources Bureau staff.
The centerpiece of the work done with their WREN grant is a video about maintaining and improving riparian buffers along the streams. The video can be viewed on the Parks and Recreation Department's Facebook page.
The partners also developed
educational forums, technical
trainings and field reviews, along with a list of recommendations for maintaining stream buffers, plans for improving buffers in some areas, "no mow" signs for park maintenance workers and a planting project. Read more ...
Greg Weitzel, Director of the Parks Department, is project leader. |
|
CHOOSE CLEAN WATER
|
|
 A Campaign for the Chesapeake ..
More than 200 people gathered in Washington DC January 10-12th to mobilize in support of strategies to restore the hundreds of streams and rivers that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
Keynoted by US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and attended by federal representatives from all the basin states - except PA it appears - the "first annual" Choose Clean Water conference focused on President Obama's recent Executive Order re Chesapeake Bay restoration, the TMDL under development for the Chesapeake and all its tributaries, the importance of bringing large scale agriculture into compliance with Bay clean-up standards and the need for tougher stormwater policies in Basin states.
Senator Ben Cardin (MD) closed the conference with a report on the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 (HR 3852/S 1816), which he introduced in the Senate in October. On the same day, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings introduced the same bill in the House. No Pennsylvania senators or representatives are co-sponsors of the bills.
Read more about this important piece of legislation which will
reduce pollution from non-point sources: stormwater, agriculture, and
development; set a firm date for getting the job
done; and provide measures for failure to
meet milestones.
Read more on the Choose Clean Water campaign and what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is doing to restore the Bay.
|
|
| Water Policy News is published three times a year by the Water Resources Education Network, a project of the League of Women Voters of PA - Citizen Education Fund. Please send your water education related programs and activities to WREN Communications Director.
|
|
|
