This is the only Tributary Team with active student participation. Several Middletown Middle School students designed and administered a survey about the public’s perceptions of the major pollutants and problems in the watershed. Results of the study were presented at a public forum by the students, who found that residents were most concerned with increased taxes and losing space to development. (You can click here to see their presentation in your web browser now, or you can click here to download the full (78 kb) presentation to your hard drive. If you have a computer with a Microsoft Windows operating system, but don't have Microsoft PowerPoint, you can click here to download a free viewer from the Microsoft web site.)

In order to address these needs, the Team has taken many steps. A Team member designed an educational brochure to distribute to the community. In addition, the Team has created a speaker’s bureau, which community organizations can contact to have a member come and speak about the issues of the watershed and the current actions of the Tributary Action Team. The Team also writes a monthly column in the local paper, the Middletown Transcript, in an effort to educate the community about the condition of the river and ways to reduce nutrients. Topics presented include total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), home lawn care, the Water Farm (a wastewater treatment facility), septic systems, and stormwater. After completing its PCS, the Team plans to work on placing watershed signs along local roads and to work with the University of Delaware to improve soil test reporting.

The Appoquinimink Tributary Action Team partnered with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), Appoquinimink School District, St. Andrew’s School, and The Reybold Group of Companies to successfully apply for and receive EPA 319 grant money for the retrofitting of a stormwater management structure in a mobile home park in Middletown. Concerns with area stormwater management arose after students walked the Dove Nest Branch, a tributary to the Appoquinimink River, and used Global Position System equipment (GPS) to locate discharges to the stream from many adjacent land uses. These students, along with personnel from DNREC, will be monitoring the water quality up and down stream of the retrofit activities in order to assess the water quality benefit. Through this partnership, the mobile home park will have a more effective stormwater system, area students will gain practical scientific field experience, and DNREC will learn more about the effectiveness of the Best Management Practices employed.

The Appoquinimink Team is chiefly concerned with reducing the individual land owner’s impact on the land. Interest areas include alternative septic systems, lawn fertilizer and pesticide regulations, rain barrels, natural gardens and preserving more natural open space. Delaware's second oldest Tributary Action Team includes government officials, landscape professionals, conservation organization members, farmers, teachers, students and homeowners as members. The team is currently working to finish their PCS to submit to DNREC. Their recommendations for agricultural practices are undergoing revisions but include the recognition of farmers who have taken steps to protect water quality, the protection of farmland around the state and the increased marketing of BMPs to farmers and other eligible parties in the watershed. Home lawn care is also a focal topic, with several related recommendations such as the development and distribution of open space guidelines, the dissemination of lawn and yard stewardship guidelines for nutrient management and the advertisement of Natural Resource Conservation Service cost share programs to enhance open space.

Originally convinced by a friend to attend the first meeting, Charlie Miller has been involved in the Appoquinimink Tributary Team ever since. He has lived and worked in the watershed for 26 years. Because of his work in the environmental consulting field, Charlie is interested in increasing public involvement. “The community has no connection to the river,” he said. His suggestion to raise awareness was to get people to think in Watershed terms by placing signs when roads crossed creeks or entered/exited the Appoquinimink watershed. He is particularly worried about the carrying capacity of the river. “People don’t realize that ground water and surface water are all affected” he points out and he is concerned about how long the river will be able to handle the ever-increasing population. But the primary challenge of the Appoquinimink Tributary Action Team, Charlie declares, is “doing something real and concrete.” He affirms that talking and discussing the best possible solutions is easy, but actually changing people’s values and behaviors is something quite different. But he’s up for the challenge and looking forward to a cleaner, healthier Appoquinimink.