Article by Amanda Ryan & David Dickson Contact Amanda Ryan, Municipal Stormwater Educator, Extension, Haddam, CT amanda.ryan@uconn.edu 860-345-5231 nemo.uconn.edu/ms4 For 26 years UConn Extension’s Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program has been a national leader in developing innova- tive, award-winning approaches to working with municipalities to help address water quality issues. Over the past year, the program has undertaken a new role as an advisor, helper, and cheerleader for the 121 municipalities and numer- ous institutions in the state charged with meeting stringent new stormwater regulations. In 2017, a long-awaited update to the State’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) regu- lation, a part of the Clean Water Act, placed a great deal more responsibility (and cost) on municipalities to reduce the amount of pollution entering waterways via storm drains. Many municipalities were over- whelmed by the challenge of learning, planning, and budgeting for the new measures, particularly in the midst of increasingly strained local funds and the lack of additional funds to implement the new measures. To lessen that burden, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has turned to the NEMO program. DEEP is providing support to NEMO to provide outreach assistance to MS4 towns and institutions throughout the five-year term of the new regulation. The effort includes a dedicated new website (http://nemo.uconn.edu/ ms4), stormwater mapping viewer, listserv, and several templates and other tools. The cornerstone of the effort was the hiring of a new Municipal Stormwater Educator, Amanda Ryan, to work directly with towns to help them understand and comply with the new requirements. This innovative approach of utilizing Extension’s expertise in providing outreach support for an expanded new statewide regulation appears to be paying off for both the State and the towns. Within 6 months of the permit’s effective date, all 121 regulated municipalities had submitted their permit, which was significantly quicker than under the old permit without outreach support. As DEEP staff put Supporting Communities Responding to New Stormwater Regulations 8 2017 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION