Norman Environmental Programs Receive Positive Recognition from State Agencies and Associations

NORMAN, OKLA. - The City of Norman's Division of Environmental Resilience and Sustainability (DoERS) has been recognized by multiple organizations for making great strides in cleaning, monitoring and restoring natural resources in and around the City of Norman.

The City of Norman's Stormwater Program Specialist, Michelle Chao, and Environmental and Sustainability Manager, Michele Loudenback, recently received awards from the Oklahoma Floodplain Managers Association for the Blue Neighborhood pilot program designed to reduce the amount and improve the quality of stormwater runoff that ends up in Lake Thunderbird, which provides drinking water for not only the City of Norman, but also Midwest City and Del City - a total population of more than 200,000 people.

Chao and Loudenback received Stormwater Innovator Awards and the Ronald D. Flanagan Gold Project Award, which recognizesOklahoma communities or agencies that go above and beyond to complete a specific project.

The program began in 2023 and encouraged residents to reduce storm runoff several ways. The use of rain barrels captured storm water to be used for irrigation rather than relying on sprinklers. Top-dressing lawns with compost rather than chemical fertilizers increased the water retention capabilities of lawns and reduced the chemical runoff that would inevitably find its way downstream to Lake Thunderbird; the design and installation of rain gardens and pollinator pockets further reduced the runoff and provided habitats for wildlife and pollinators.

"This is a great way to show people that they can have a positive impact on water quality," Loudenback said.

Although the Division has not received a full year's worth of data on the pilot project, they say the progress that has been made has encouraged them to continue the efforts.

"We're now looking at other areas to restore. Small changes add up to greater results." Chao said.

Loudenback added, "And with the team we have, we can really make a difference."

KEEP OKLAHOMA BEAUTIFUL AWARD NOMINATIONS

In addition to the awards received by the Oklahoma Floodplain Managers, the Division has also been named finalists for the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Environmental Excellence Awards. The Blue Neighborhood pilot project was named a finalist in the "Government Programs" category and the City's May the Fourth Regional Electronics Collection event was named a finalist in the "Team-Builders" category.

The May the Fourth Electronics Collection was an opportunity for citizens from Norman and the surrounding region to dispose of old electronics.

"We had 652 cars come through and collected 37112 pounds of electronics waste," Loudenback said.

Items received at the collection include televisions, keyboards, computer monitors, VCR and DVD players, fax machines, copiers, printers, modems and hard drives, just to name a few.

She added that disposing of electronics waste presents real environmental and privacy challenges because of the amount of plastic, heavy metals and other potentially hazardous materials, as well as the amount of personal data stored on electronic devices. Rather than send the waste to a landfill, the electronics collections days enable the waste to be sent to a facility specially equipped to deal with it.

"The City of Norman has partnered with United Electronic Recycling, an R2v3-certified contractor. This means that they process our waste properly to recover precious resources while also properly destroying any personal data that may be left," Loudenback said. The program not only saves space in landfills and protects soil and groundwater from contamination, it also protects privacy.

Loudenback said the Electronic Waste Collection days are held twice a year and stressed that they will accept "anything with a cord."

The next collection event will occur on November 9, 2024.

Learn more about events and activities to increase Norman's sustainability efforts at GreenNorman.org.

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