The winning artwork/drawing will be used as the primary marketing image for the 2026 River Round Up. It will be displayed at River Round Up sites on September 12, 2026, and in promotional displays around Licking County.
One winner from each of these categories:
Elementary (K-4)
Middle/Intermediate School (5-8)
High School (9-12)
$100 to winning student from each category
$500 to the student’s school
Contest Rules:
The Clean Water Act (CWA) Phase II Stormwater Final Rule is an unfunded federal mandate and is one of the reasons the city has implemented the stormwater utility. Other areas of concern include preventative maintenance, major improvements, emergency repairs, and pollution prevention.
Stormwater picks up a lot of things on its way to area streams and rivers – litter, road salt, lawn and garden chemicals and more. Illegal dumping of used oil, antifreeze or gas into the stormwater system poses a threat to the environment since this system discharges directly to our rivers and streams.
Stormwater pollution is a continuing problem throughout the United States. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the 1996 National Water Quality Inventory indicated that approximately 40 percent of surveyed U.S. surface waters did not meet water quality standards. Polluted stormwater runoff is believed to be one of the leading sources of this contamination.
The City of Newark has developed a Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) to meet the Phase II regulations, which define six (6) Minimum Control Measures that must be addressed as a portion of the SWMP. The intent of these is to reduce pollutants discharged by the City’s drainage system into waters of the United States.
The six Minimum Control Measures as identified by the regulations include:
