January 21, 1998

Dear Science Teacher,

You all should have received some information from me earlier about the funding we just received for stenciling storm sewer outlets in the Metro East area. Now that the holidays are over, the time has come to set the project in motion. I am asking you and your city staff to participate in this very important and needed series of activities.

Why this area for such a project? The Gateway Initiative Area is bounded on the North by Alton and on the South by East St. Louis. It runs below the bluffs on the east side and to the Mississippi on the West and is sometimes called the American Bottoms. The USEPA has been conducting a special initiative to improve and protect the water quality in this area. The USEPA, city government, and industry have worked long and hard to correct point sources of pollution - Such as, no more open pipes and sewers running into the streams. The time has come to work on less obvious and harder to control problems that happen when people place such things as used oil, antifreeze, paint, solvents, and excess fertilizers or herbicides on the ground or down the storm sewers. Through your students, we can share information on this issue and at the same time make a case with the parents and the community for disposing of materials properly. This project takes us into the millennium with a note of protection and love for the place where we live and through your efforts our East-side will be kept healthier. The blue paint of the stencil will be a long lasting and clear reminder that we have done one small thing to help.

February 11, 1998, will be the organizational session to start the effort. I have included the agenda so you can see what is planned. In the morning each school representative will receive information, materials, and training in the non-point pollution curriculum that we assembled and printed. After lunch, we will go through the stenciling process and meet with other city schools and agencies to organize the effort in your city. That will be when your staff person can be involved.

Then in April or May, depending on what your city-wide group decides, the children, along with city employees and volunteers, will stencil the storm drains. The grant will provide all the materials for that effort; you will provide assistance to the teacher and the children as they stencil the words, "Don't Dump Here, Drains into our Mississippi". Curriculum materials have been assembled and are being printed by Ameritech. The activities will ultimately help the students to understand the benefits that their stenciling will provide, hopefully, leading into the actual stenciling. We are getting the support of many area businesses and agencies.

A letter is being sent to each school. Hopefully, all the schools in your city will be involved. We now need a member of the City Works Department to assist the teachers in locating and stenciling all the storm sewer outlets. Please complete the form and return it as soon as possible. We need your person's help during the afternoon for the planning session but they are invited to come and spend the day. Lunch will be at noon. A schedule is enclosed to help plan your day.

I have searched the web, made calls across the country, and have found that no single effort can match this one in the number of students involved and the size of the area to be stenciled. If you participate you will be a part of this novel, high impact action. This effort will take a great deal of cooperation from all parties and lots of luck with the weather. At the end we should have made our mark on most of the storm sewer outlets in the area. Many industrial plants will be given stencils and doing their own work.

If you have questions,please give me a call at 618-692-3788. Looking forward to seeing you on the llth.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bob Williams

February 21, 1998

Monica Bristow
Olin Corporation
427 N.Shamrock
East Alton, IL 62024

Dear Ms. Bristow,

This letter is sent to inform you that Southern Illinois University has been awarded $40,975 by the USEPA to conduct the Gateway Initiative Storm Sewer Stenciling Project. This grant calls for the students of the Metro-East area of Illinois to work on this environmental project that requires your support.

This will be a joint effort of the nationally known Rivers and Groundwater Projects and the teachers and students of the Gateway area from Alton to East St. Louis along the American Bottoms. The teachers and students from Metro-East middle and high schools will join with elementary school students in a project to study more ways to protect our water and to share that knowledge with their parents and other adults.

The Storm Sewer Stenciling Project offers students a way to actively protect the environment. Collaboration with businesses, agencies, and other organizations is the greatest strength of this area-wide effort. We have almost 30 of the major area businesses, agencies, and organizations as potential sponsors for the project.

The Storm Sewer Stenciling Project will begin immediately. During the next five months, the coordinator will be busy organizing the program. A set of non-point pollution curriculum activities will be developed and printed. Painting and stenciling supplies will be gathered. The schools and communities will be notified. Any permissions will be gathered and the teachers recruited. Finally in late January or early February, an organized training and information session will be held, most likely at SIUE. Your teachers (one per school) will be invited to participate and organize the effort within that school. Schools in each city will meet with city officials to divide up the city for stenciling. Stenciling will be done during Earth Week in late April. "Don't Dump, Drains into the Mississippi" will be the message.

During the training session, teachers from Gateway area schools will meet with respective community and city leaders. Non-point pollution curriculum materials will be distributed and explained, and stenciling activities will be reviewed. Support for each school will be arranged from members of local agencies, businesses, and organizations. A grant is being written to bring local senior citizens to help the teachers with the stenciling.

Much of the cost of the activities that support the teachers will be covered under the grant including money for the substitute teacher. We are looking for additional funding for materials, paint, and stencils.

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, as a member of the Southern Groundwater Protection Committee and as an environmentally concerned institution, has given its full support to the project. Dr. Robert Williams, who coordinates the Rivers and Groundwater Projects, will be given released time to oversee the effort and be responsible for financial management. He can be reached at the Rivers Project, Box 2222, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL 62026-2222. The office phone number is 618.692.2446, FAX 618.692.3359, email at >rivers@siue.edu< The Rivers Project's web site at http://www.siue.edu/OSME/river has a location featuring the Stenciling Project.

I am anxious to begin the process of this educational effort. Over the years I have worked with many of your teachers and would naturally contact some of them for leadership positions. If you might suggest an interested and capable teacher from each school who should be called, please let me know.

Similar, but smaller stenciling projects have been conducted across the country but this may be the largest project of its kind ever undertaken. Even more important, the ground and river waters of the Gateway area may be kept safe for future generations because of what we do this next year.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert Williams Project Director

Informational letters were sent to teachers and group leaders to keep them up to date on the project and remind them of specific procedures, dates, and issues.

April 16, 1998

Dear Storm Sewer Stenciling Teachers,

I have visited with and delivered materials to most of you. I should get the rest on Monday the 20th which is the beginning of Earth Week. Things are looking good. A couple of the schools have already been out and have finished their streets. Most of the cities have been split up with each of your schools taking a share. A couple of towns will have to be completed after the initial stenciling effort.

A press release is being prepared by the University to go out to all the papers in your areas the BIG papers and also TV. Your names will be given as the contact person. Make your Principal aware of that fact. Be sure to call the police and other city agency people to let them know when you are going out. Contact my office at 618-692-2446 as well so we know when everyone is out there.

I have included a copy of the final reporting form. You can help me by keeping track of the number of drains that you stencil. If your city contact person has been doing some stenciling on his own, then I will get the number from him. All of this will be in my report to the USEPA. If we do well, I may come up with another crazy idea that will help our area become cleaner and safer.

Some of you will be using a substitute and I have enclosed that request form. Check with me if you need one. Send this back to the office as soon as you complete your stenciling. If you delay there may be problems with getting it paid in a timely fashion.

Hope for no rain this next week. Have fun out there and I will try to join some of you each day if I have your schedule.

Sincerely,

Bob Williams Project Director

Some teachers and other participants enthusiasm becomes overshadowed by other personal and school based concerns. This letter was sent to those who initially expressed interest and then lost contact.

April 21, 1998

I have not heard from you but wanted to let you know that the Storm Sewer Stenciling Project has begun! Last week, I dropped off cases of paint, stencils, and wire brushes to the Madison, IL school teachers. With about 450 storm drains, the teachers and students are planning to take three or four afternoons to stencil the entire city. We met a few nights ago with the Mayor and alderman and they, too, are excited about the kids taking this time to help protect the area's water resources. The city pledged its resources to make this project successful. I also carried supplies to Alton High School where that group of students will begin to stencil the drains in the downtown area. The schools have divided up much of Alton and will make their presence known by the blue paint on the drains. The people coming to the Casino will receive the message that we in the Gateway Initiative area are concerned about keeping our Mississippi River water clean. Granite City teachers have organized the city and a number of new schools are being added to the project because they could not attend the day long training session. Flu and a lack of substitutes make missing school more difficult. But Caseyville is ready too and so is Glen Carbon.

As the Project gathers steam and flows towards its Earth Day or May ending, we are still looking for your help. It is a simple project and with some prodding, the teachers are responding. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are also involved. We are providing the materials and still need matching funds for these. So far, Jefferson Smurfit, Bank of Edwardsville, and Illinois American have offered some of those dollars. Marsh Company from Belleville has loaned us a stenciling machine and sold, at cost, the paper for the stencils. Ameritech has already printed the curriculum materials in their Indianapolis office. The Regional Ground Water Committee provided the lunches for the Kick-Off meeting. The actual stenciling of each drain takes only a few seconds to accomplish but organizing and supervising the students takes some doing. If you can provide volunteers from your staff, I would line them up with local teachers.

Our next task is to get the materials to all interested teachers, volunteers and agency people. I can come by and talk with you about how we are accomplishing the activity. Some schools view this as a service project where the kids give back to the community. With your help the paint, stencils, and other materials will be provided and with volunteers, the whole effort will take only a few sunny spring days of walking and painting. Please help us.

With your help, I think we can make an impact on the area's water quality. The students can come to understand the importance of their actions through the use of the stencils and the back to the environment one small thing, real action.

I am really looking forward to seeing the results of our work in April and May. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. As soon as I receive your call, I will come by and explain how your funds or people can be used. We also can provide stencils for use within your property. The stencils and paint are here waiting for you.

If there are any other questions, please call at 618-692-2446. Or Check out our web site at http://www.siue.edu/OSME/river

Sincerely,

Dr. Bob Williams

We sent this letter to all of the mayors and city governments of the paticipating towns and cities.

May 18, 1998

Dear Mayor Hamm,

I am pleased to let you know that the students at Madison High School have finished the stenciling of the storm drains in your city. The students were under the direction of Ms. Sandy Williams.

Madison High School is one of forty schools in the Gateway Initiative Area to be involved in the stenciling of all the storm drains from Alton to East St. Louis. The few remaining areas that have not been stenciled in each of the towns are being attended to by groups of local Girl and Boy Scout Troops. If the students have missed places, please let me know so that, in the future, new scouting troops can be assigned these areas. I am also driving through your city to see if places are missed. I do have extra paint left over and can provide your city streets or water department any paint and stencils to cover those left over drains. Please let me know.

School will soon be out and the students involved in this project would like to hear from you or the city. As time permits, could you please drop them a letter-of-thanks for their effort on behalf of the city and the continuing protection of the environment for which we are all working?

Thank you for your continuing support. We have just finished the largest stenciling effort ever undertaken in the Mississippi River Basin

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert Williams Project Director