(Lawrenceville, Ga., Feb. 18, 2011) - The Department of Water Resources has extended the deadline to submit applications for certain Watershed Stewardship credits from Dec. 31 to March 1. Applications for these particular credits are due March 1, 2011, for the 2011 billing cycle. The extension was based on feedback received at a recent citizens' forum.

"We appreciate comments from our customers, and after researching this issue further, we extended the deadlines to accommodate more applications. We also placed information on the County homepage with a link to more details about the stormwater credits program and how customers can apply for these credits," said Lynn Smarr, acting Water Resources director.

The County offers stormwater credits of up to 40 percent to Gwinnett County property owners who take actions to limit the amount of stormwater that leaves their properties or clean pollutants from the stormwater runoff.

The credits that were extended until March 1 are: public participation, watershed improvement project, low-impact parcels, conservation use valuation assessment (CUVA), conservation easements, farmland deep tillage, fencing livestock out of stream, stream restoration/streambank stabilization, stream buffers that exceed 75′ standards, rain barrels, residential rain garden/bioretention facility, automatic sprinkler sensor installation, direct discharges to another county, septic tank maintenance and connection to sanitary sewers.

The deadline for five other types of credits did not change. Applications for county-approved training programs, non-residential school education, water quality, channel protection and peak flow credits must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2011, in order to receive credit for the 2012 billing cycle.

For more information about stormwater credits, visit gwinnettstormwater.com or call 678.376.7193 (choose option #3).