The Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (Brick Utilities) recently completed a series of workshops promoting simple measures people can take to help protect the Barnegat Bay Estuary and Metedeconk River Watershed. Greening Your Landscape While Protecting the Watershed discussed how rain barrels and rain gardens reduce nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoff to these waterbodies. The free workshops were offered from August 2017 through October 2018 to residents throughout the Barnegat Bay watershed with a grant from the Barnegat Bay Partnership.

Presentations were given at the beginning of each workshop regarding the benefits rain barrels and rain gardens have in reducing stormwater runoff's effect on local water resources as well as other benefits they provide. Hands-on experiences were given to each participant on how to build and install these measures around their homes and businesses.

Rain garden workshop participants learned how they could create beautiful habitats for wildlife within their landscapes with native plants, while trapping litter, debris, sediment and contaminants in stormwater runoff. Everyone learned how native plants and microbes in the soil break down and use pollutants in stormwater. This treated water slowly soaks into the soil, recharging groundwater supplies. Participants were introduced to the Jersey-Friendly Yards website (www.jerseyyards.org) as a helpful tool in water conservation and natural landscaping practices they can use around their homes helping to improve water quality. The workshop was held at Brick Utilities offices where a demonstration rain garden was built in various stages of completion so participants could see first-hand how they are constructed.

Partner organizations for the project included the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Township of Brick, Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation, and Boating Education and Rescue (B.E.A.R.).