Education & Outreach

The City of Barberton is required to implement a public education program that distributes educational materials to the community about the impacts of stormwater discharges on water bodies and the steps the public can take to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff. Summit Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) assists Barberton with our education program. The city hands out information in the city building, continually updates the website, has displays at local festivals, supports stormwater billboards, does presentations to schools and so much more to education everyone on the importance of stormwater!

Continue reading to find out more about stormwater and what you can do to increase not only our water quality, but how you can impact the world’s water quality!

A Timeline of Human Water Use

  • 12,000 years ago: hunter-gatherers continually return to fertile river valleys
  • 7,000 years ago: water shortages spur humans to invent irrigation
  • 1,100 years ago: collapse of Mayan civilization due to drought
  • Mid 1800's: fecal contamination of surface water causes severe health problems (typhoid, cholera) in some major North American cities, notably Chicago
  • 1858: "Year of the Great Stink" in London, due to sewage and wastes in Thames
  • Late 1800s-early 1900: Dams became popular as a water management tool
Graph of Total World Water and Breakdown of freshwater resources
  • 1900s: The green revolution strengthens human dependency on irrigation for agriculture
  • World War II: water quality impacted by industrial and agricultural chemicals
  • 1972: Clean Water Act passed; humans recognize need to protect water

"Human Appropriation of the World's Fresh Water Supply." Human Appropriation of the World's Fresh Water Supply. University of Michigan, 4 January 2006. Web. 2 December 2013.