The City of Bardstown is growing and the growing pains come in many forms.  The city has recently been designated a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) community.  This means that the city now has to comply with the rules outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Bardstown is considered a small (phase II) MS4 community and  Phase II regulation requires small MS4s in U.S. Census Bureau defined urbanized areas, as well as MS4s designated by the permitting authority, to obtain NPDES permit coverage for their stormwater discharges. This permit has Six Minimum Control Measures:

• Public Education and Outreach
• Public Involvement and Participation
• Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
• Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control
• Post-Construction Stormwater Management in New Development and Redevelopment
• Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations

The Nelson County Extension ANR/Hort program has partnered with the Bardstown City engineers to help with the community outreach portion of the report requirements. Our job is to educate the public on ways they can reduce the number of chemicals and pollutants that reach wastewater treatment plants. Many homeowners simply do not understand that if it hits the ground it can be in our water supply. The Extension Service is in a unique situation to help with the education process by informing the public about how to avoid misdeeds in regard to our clean water.  In the past year, this office has reached 7500 individuals directly and more than 120,000 indirectly through our educational outreach.  This is accomplished through newsletters that reach around 1000 individuals monthly and through a weekly radio/tv show that reaches around 4000 weekly.  We have certified hundreds in the proper use of chemicals and trained dozens in the proper use of Dicamba.  Soil testing still remains one of the best ways to reduce the runoff of unnecessary fertilization and we conduct more than 800 annually.