The TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Campaign's outreach program is the most enjoyable portion of the Campaign. TAPP makes every effort to reach a diversity of audiences of all ages throughout the community. The program includes public appearances, distribution of education materials through displays placed at various locations, and booths at local events and festivals. TAPP presenters have talked to neighborhood associations from Myers Park to Miccosukee, governmental, civic and business groups, church groups, local plant nurseries, and occasionally elementary and middle school classes. TAPP staff have been active in events supporting Wakulla Springs and have helped build a number of demonstration rain gardens, one of which is a research garden located on the FAMU campus. TAPP funds demonstration rain gardens through the Rain Garden Grant Program, which encourages homeowners to slow the flow of stormwater from their yards by installing rain gardens. Outreach presenters have found the groups with which TAPP works to be enthusiastic and receptive to the message of personally protecting water quality, and the success of the TAPP Campaign would not be possible without the involvement and support of community leaders.
From 2004 through January 2009, the TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Educational Outreach Campaign reached over 11,000 people through community group presentations and booths at public events, such as Springtime Tallahassee, the Florida Neighborhoods Conference, the Sustainable Big Bend Green Living Expo, the Wakulla Springs Restoration Workshop, and the Springtime Tour of Gardens. In addition, the City of Tallahassee Communications Department inserted a TAPP informational brochure into utility bills that were mailed to 105,000 Tallahassee utility customers in February 2007.
Key Themes for Education are:
- Cumulative effects of our personal habits that contribute to water pollution
- The personal responsibility we all carry to ensure clean water
- Ways each of us unknowing adds to the water pollution problem and how we can help to solve it
- Ways to Slow the Flow of rainwater from our yards
- How to build a rain garden
The emphasis on rain gardens evolved because rain gardens were used elsewhere in the U.S. to help capture rainwater in the yard, preventing substances like gas, oil, fertilizers, or pet waste from reaching nearby waterways. The concept is based on the reality that it is easier and less expensive to prevent pollutants from getting into the stormwater stream than it is to clean it up afterwards. A rain garden offers a way that each of us can help to prevent water pollution.
Key Methods of TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Educational Efforts:
- Presentations to community, neighborhood and business groups
- Educational materials
- Rain Garden Grant Program
- Displays in garden centers, nurseries, local businesses and offices
- Booths at community events and festivals
- Articles in neighborhood and community group newsletters
- Programming on WCOT, the City channel
- Tapp web site www.tappwater.org
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Staff
John Cox, Chief of Water Quality for City of Tallahassee Stormwater Management, oversees the TAPP project as part of the City’s Go Green Initiative. Katie Hallas is the TAPP Project Coordinator . TAPP is fortunate to have talented and well-informed people working with the public, including Ed Schroeder, a retired professor of veterinary medicine, and Grayal Farr, and archaeologist. Both instructors are Master Gardeners.
Educational Materials
- TAPP Guide to a Water-Friendly Yard
- TAPP Rain Garden brochure
- TAPP informational brochure
- TAPP PowerPoint presentations
- RainGardens: A How-to Manual for Homeowners
- Rain Barrels
- Terrain model of the City exhibited at public events and at City Hall
- GIS maps of the watersheds of Lakes Jackson, Munson and Lafayette
Presentations
TAPP presentations are offered to all interested groups, no matter how large or small, at virtually any venue. TAPP personnel have presented indoors and outside, in living rooms, churches, government buildings, schools, offices, auditoriums, convention centers, and public parks. The main topics covered in each presentation are
- The uniqueness of the geology and hydrology of the Big Bend region
- Why your yard matters
- What you can do to prevent water pollution
This element of the TAPP Campaign, personal interaction, is probably the most effective in reaching people and encouraging changes in the individual behaviors that have the potential to pollute waterways.
Rain Garden Grant Program
Prior to the TAPP Campaign, rain gardens were unheard of here in Tallahassee. The Rain Garden Grant Program establishes demonstration rain gardens for people to see. The program began in Spring 2007 and continues today. Over 45 residential rain gardens have been installed, and four non-residential gardens have been planted by volunteers at FAMU, Lee’s Place, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, and Temple Israel Synagogue. Each spring, TAPP offers rain garden workshops at Native Nursery, Tallahassee Nursery, and /or Maclay Gardens State Park. Workshops cover specifics on steps to build the garden, common mistakes, and photos accumulated with gardens planted through the Rain Garden Grant Program. After the garden is planted, attractive signs are put in place, and participants allow their gardens to be photographed for three years to assess performance.
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) Goodies
- Rain gauges – Available at TAPP presentations.
- Ducks – As soon as the TAPP “Duck” advertisement was introduced, it quickly became the favorite and most memorable of the TAPP advertisements and led to the adoption of the yellow rubber duck as a program icon. The duck provides a great visual aid to help explain how, if the duck were dropped on this particular spot, he would make his way into the nearest waterway. Available at public events.
- Terrain Map – A three-dimensional model of the three major Tallahassee watersheds (Lafayette, Munson, and Jackson) has been produced for use in the TAPP booth at community events and workshops. The model visually demonstrates the topography of the area and water flow dynamics. Also, large posters depicting GIS topographical maps allow people to search out their own streets and discover how and where water flows from their individual properties.
- Lake watershed bumper stickers – Bumper stickers support the terrain map and the GIS maps where residents can find their properties within their watershed. Available at public events or order online at the TAPP home page.
If you are interested in a TAPP presentation to your community or civic group, please contact Katie Hallas at 891-6806 or Katie.Hallas@talgov.com.
TAPP (Think About Personal Pollution) is funded by the City of Tallahassee and administered by the City of Tallahassee Stormwater Management Group as part of Tallahassee's Go Green initiative.