Messages for Change:

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Messages for Change Stormwater Communications
Research
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Project Inspiration

• Water Words that Work Polling (2005)
• Sprawl and overdevelopment is bad
• Traffic, crowded schools, open space

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Key findings about overdevelopment

• Most dislike overdevelopment and expect more
• Many see developers as bad political actors
• Few understand overdevelopment as a water issue

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Message Research

• Goal to craft clear and persuasive messages for
  local leaders to be delivered by clean water
  advocates to
• Create political will for better approaches for
  stormwater
• Link land use decisions with clean water
• Make stormwater a priority by coming from a
  different angle
• Develop and test message concepts.

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Project Research
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Context Chesapeake Bay Watershed
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Methodology

• Phase I
• Conducted 18 in-depth interviews among elected
  officials, planners, engineers and soil
  conservation district heads to gauge awareness
  uncover themes for testing
• Communication needs survey of advocates.
• Phase II
• Tested seven message concepts with 15 local
  leaders to understand the most compelling images,
  themes and examples to spur action
• Rated each concept on Importance of issue,
  increased concern, believability, call to action,
  conveying community benefits.

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Phase I Message Research
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Phase I Interviews
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The Spectrum of Knowledge is Wide
Low
High
Medium
County Executives Planning/Development
Agencies City/County Council members
Board of Commissioners Board of
Supervisors City/County Council members
City/County Engineers Department of Public
Works Soil Conservation District
WHO
Not an issue I hear much about from the
public We have departments to deal with In
compliance with state laws
One of several priority issues Doing well but can
do better In compliance with minimums but need
to do more
Priority issue Doing well (some say can do
better) Regulations good and getting
better Looking ahead to challenges
WHAT THEY SAY
Pollution Compliance Rivers Education Motor
Oil Fertilizer
Impervious surfaces Down-zoning Erosion sediment
control TMDLs Watershed Tributary Point-source
and non-point source
Run-off Rivers and streams Watershed Drainage Mast
er plan Water and sewer Erosion
WORDS THEY USE
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Key Barriers

• Political Will (lack of)
• Money
• Counties face the perceived trade-off between
  benefits of development and costs of stricter
  regulations
• Assessment
• Different jurisdictions vary widely in what they
  know about their watersheds and what needs to be
  done
• Enforcement is insufficient
• Prioritization
• Transportation, sewage, etc. all perceived as
  more pressing
• Engineers are not current with best practices
• Varying levels of coordination, information and
  capacity sharing across localities

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Message Research Phase I Findings Summary

• Chesapeake Bay fatigue go with local waters
• Low knowledge group (commissioners city
  council)
• Not a problem or priority
• Dont hear about it
• Were in compliance with the law
• Staff only need a little political will to tip
  toward better approaches
• We are taking care of it

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Phase II Message Development Testing
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Message Concept Development

• Flooding
• Human health
• Drinking water treatment costs
• Stormwater-sewer overflow connection
• Quality of life
• Property values
• Community legacy/cultural identity

All message concepts contained a problem with a
solution pivot to Low Impact Development
solutions for stormwater management
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Polluted stormwater runoff is unhealthy for our
community and for our local economy.

• Polluted stormwater carries bacteria into our
  streams, rivers, and lakes 3.5 million people
  who swim in polluted water become sick each year
  in the U.S.

Closed beaches, rivers and waterways severely
impacts recreational tourism, an industry that
generates over 16.5 billion in revenue and
206,900 jobs in Virginia.
Simple, cost effective solutions exist to reduce
polluted stormwater runoff and grow a healthier
community.
Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Clean water helps our communities and our
economies thrive.

• Simple steps to better storm-water management
  ensure polluted runoff does not end up in
  waterways where people swim and play.

Keeping our recreational areas pristine boosts
local tourism revenue, provides jobs and supports
local businesses.
Recreational tourism represents more than 800,000
jobs in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Polluted stormwater runoff drives up the cost of
water treatment.

• Polluted stormwater runoff increases the
  contaminants in water supplies, which lead to
  higher treatment costs.
• Reducing pollutants in streams, rivers, and lakes
  greatly lowers water treatment costs and is a
  long term solution to providing clean water for a
  healthy community.
• Simple, cost-effective solutions to better
  stormwater management ensure polluted stormwater
  runoff does not end up in drinking water sources.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Low impact development techniques reduce water
treatment costs.

• The most cost efficient and effective way to
  protect drinking water supplies is to keep
  pollutants out of drinking water sources.
• Stormwater management through low impact
  development greatly reduces water treatment costs
  by placing less burden on treatment plants.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Polluted stormwater runoff and resulting sewage
overflows threatens clean water.

• Conventional development creates swaths of
  impermeable surfaces roads, roofs and parking
  lots that allow stormwater runoff to wash
  contaminants down drains and into our streams.

• Stormwater runoff can overwhelm storm drain
  systems and cause both stormwater and raw sewage
  to overflow into streams and rivers without ever
  being treated.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Simple low impact development stormwater
solutions create a clean, healthy community.

• Reducing runoff with simple green solutions
  decreases the amount of pollution in our
  waterways, improves air quality and provide for
  more open space.
• It is easier and cheaper to prevent problems
  through low impact development and planning than
  it is to solve them later.
• Low impact development solutions are less costly
  than conventional stormwater and combined sewer
  overflow controls.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Polluted stormwater runoff washes away property
values.

• Toxic pollutants carried by stormwater runoff
  contribute to lower property values.

Properties conventionally built in high-impact
developments are less desirable which contributes
to lower property values.

• Municipalities that treat storm water as a waste
  product and not as a resource are spending too
  much after the fact when its too late.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Low impact development increases property values
by improving the health and vitality of your
community.

• Low impact development techniques are simple.
  They cost less to build because of decreased site
  development and conventional infrastructure
  costs.

• Low impact development techniques treat
  stormwater as a resource, retaining natural
  features and vegetation to prevent pollutants
  from entering our waterways.

• Low impact development sites are more attractive
  to buyers because of their environmental
  amenities including flood prevention and
  pollution reduction.

Rethink stormwater. Treat rain as a resource.
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Dont let your communitys legacy be washed away.

• Historic and cultural sites that are integral to
  our communitys heritage have been preserved
  along our rivers for centuries.

Flash flooding from stormwater runoff puts our
community treasures in danger.
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Phase II interviews
v
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Message Insight 1 All Stormwater is Local
Flooding example Even within one concept,
messages run a spectrum.
Human-made causes/ stormwater culprit
Split based on natural causes and nature of
development
Natural causes
The city has seen an exponential growth At the
same time, there has been a lot of growth and
annexation outside of the center of the city. So
we have done a lot of hard surfacing, we have
brought on a lot of new units We have given
developers a lot of incentives and its coming
back to roost. We have a bad reputation for
flooding problems. We have some really impaired
waterways, Shoemaker Pond, Parker Pond, for
instance, and that is attributed to stormwater
runoff. (Salisbury City, MD)
The biggest water issue for people in the county
as a whole is major flooding caused by hurricanes
that stall out over the mountain ranges or
something like that. This has caused a
tremendous amount of damage in Buena Vista three
or four times and they have built a flood wall to
try and alleviate that problemThe other
water-related issue that people are concerned
about is in the rural areas of the county that
the water level is going to drop because of
increased development where theres more draws,
and also because of drought, weather conditions,
possibly global warming. (Rockbridge, VA)

• Because we are in headwaters in the mountains we
  suffer severe flooding problems especially during
  hurricane season. People dont think about being
  so far inland that its a hurricane place The
  last big one that we had was Isabel in 2003.
  Isabel played out and comes up here and hangs on
  the mountains and then we get 22 inches of rain
  and pretty bad flooding. (Augusta County, VA)

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Message Insight 2 So Lead with the Big Picture
Big Picture Water Is A Critical Natural Asset
Stormwater has been treated as waste water (get
it away from people and structures quickly) Best
Practices says control flooding, improve water
quality by getting off surfaces and into the
ground
Water Quantity
Water Quality
Menu of Examples Upstream development exacerbates
downstream flooding Standing water health
impacts Development draws from groudwater/drinking
water supply
Menu of Examples Polluted stormwater run-off
impairs our streams Years of work to improve
water quality stalled/reversed by
development Stormwater-Sewage connection
Low Impact Development Solutions
Address quality and quantity issues through
improved structures and materials and low-cost
natural landscaping solutions

• Water is probably our most important natural
  resource here. (VA elected official)

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Why the Big Picture Matters

• Lets you lead with the positive
• Presents an attractive alternative vision that is
  not antidevelopment
• Problem examples were not universal, but
  solutions interested everyone.

Huge craters that are all over the place and are
unsightly and dont work very well. Trying to
get away from that and to more innovative
approaches, the low-impact development is a good
idea trying to integrate stormwater management
measures into your community so its attractive
and just part of your natural community, it all
flows together (Cumberland, PA)
I think all of the pictures are very positive and
its awful hard not to look at children around
water. (Shenandoah Cnty, Bd of Supervisors)
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Message Insight 3 Pictures Are Powerful
The most powerful pictures are intuitive

• The applications in each of the pictures was
  enough different that you could see how it would
  apply in a residential area, how it would apply
  on a streetscape and how it would apply in a
  commercial parking lot application They were
  all compelling because they were all things that
  I could see being used there. (Salisbury, MD)
• They look like they would be attractive in your
  neighborhood and they depict good solutions.
  (Worcester, MD)

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Message Insight 4 Some Things Need Explaining

• New structures and materials
• Why is the driveway so messy?
• I cant really tell what that curb cut does.

• Stormwater-Sewage Connection
• people in the county would have a hard time
  connecting beach closures to stormwater
  (Worcester, MD)

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Message Insight 5 The Message Has to Connect
the Problem and Solution
We showed this problem with this solution example

• The thing is Im not sure that people can take
  the first set of pictures and relate to the
  second set and say if we do the second set were
  not going to have the first set. The settings
  are so different. (Augusta County, VA)
• You look at the pictures on the first page and
  that seems very dramatic. You go to the second
  page and you see a couple of gardens planted
  its hard to understand how planting those
  gardens is going to prevent those negative things
  on the first page from happening. (Page County,
  VA)

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Message Insight 5 The Message Has to Connect
the Problem and Solution
A Better Example Would Be

• But it seems like everything weve looked at so
  far, one page has been the bad stuff and the next
  page has been the good stuff. To me it would be
  better to see a before and after beside each
  other and have it explained. (Adams County, PA)

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Message Insight 6 Pictures and Supporting
Points Must Bridge the Gap Between Example and
Local Reality

• See all of the erosion where its actually
  washing away banks that are high, a river or
  creek or whatever it is. We dont have that
  around here Ive never seen any erosion around
  here like is pictured in the top two pictures.
  (Shenandoah County, VA)

The other one where its got the high-impact
development I think may be just a little much for
our area. Weve got a lot of development but
nothing quite as heavily built on as what it
shows. (Rockbridge, VA)
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Case Study Same MessageTwo Reactions

• I think on the first set of photographs where I
  saw the pipe with the water coming out of it, I
  guess because thats so much like some of what we
  see here, that one was a very powerful image for
  me. Then I think in the second set of pictures
  they all were because the applications in each of
  the pictures was enough different that you could
  see how it would apply They were all compelling
  because they were all things that I could see
  being used there. (Salisbury, MD)
• The county does not have any sewer or water
  infrastructure, no sewer or water plants at all,
  thats all run by the towns. (Page County, VA)

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Case Study Turning Thumbs-Down Into Thumbs Up
Simple steps to better stormwater management
ensure polluted run-off does not end up in
waterways where people swim and play. Keeping our
recreational areas pristine boosts local tourism
revenue, provides jobs and supports local
businesses.
Polluted stormwater carries bacteria into our
streams, rivers and lakes 3.5 million people who
swim in polluted water become sick each year in
the U.S.
Page County is less affected by growth and
development than others because were remote
Were known for our natural ecotourism the
natural beauty, the national park, national
forest, Shenandoah River If you impact the
natural beauty of our place the manufacturing
jobs go away and the tourism jobs go away and
people wont visit here and it wont be a nice
place to live. The pictures on the second page
are showing me why people like to live here. You
canoe and go fishing, you have kids playing by
the stream. Thats good stuff and if youre
going to impact that negatively its going to be
a real problem. So I think its an effective ad
for those purposes.
Why It Worked Positive Vision Connected to Local
Topography Showed Appropriate, Characteristic
Images Forward Focused As you develop, protect
these resources
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Creating the Right Pitch Step Back and Look At
the Whole
Topography Realistic stormwater impact on
flooding
Ratio/Pace of Development How urgent is the
problem?
Nature of Development Show appropriate examples
re density commercial, residential
Sewer or Septic Make the right connections on
water quality/health
Well or Muni Water Make the right connections on
drinking water/treatment costs
Recreational Use Community value
Status of Management Plan Define the right ask
Diversity of Solution Needs LID is starting
point Choose examples that fit needs
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Message Testing - Results Summary

• All concepts worked but wanted to see how
  plausible to their community
• Pictures were powerful visual response
• Getting solutions
• Need more closely linked images.

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Next Steps

• Develop message workshop to tailor to local
  conditions
• Develop a community photobank with visually
  persuasive images from different areas
• Get messages put into use for change

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Project Funders

• Keith Campbell Foundation
• Philanthropic Collaborative
• Town Creek Foundation
• Prince Charitable Trusts

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• For more information
• Katherine Baer, American Rivers
• kbaer_at_americanrivers.org