Painted storm drains in St. Clair County designed to raise environmental awareness

Eight storm drains in downtown Port Huron will be painted to foster environmental awareness on Monday.

Friends of the St. Clair River created the Thumb Coast Storm Drain Art Project as a way to raise awareness about the connection between storm drains and Michigan rivers. The project intends to paint 24 murals across Port Huron, Marine City and St. Clair.

Expected designs for Port Huron will feature native fish, local wildlife and a pond.

Donna Mitchell-Collins painting her mural for the Thumb Coast Storm Drain Art Project. The project aims to raise awareness to the connection between storm drains and Michigan Rivers.
Donna Mitchell-Collins painting her mural for the Thumb Coast Storm Drain Art Project. The project aims to raise awareness to the connection between storm drains and Michigan Rivers.

“A painted storm drain reminds us that what goes into the drains ends up in our rivers,” the project’s website said.

So far, nine storm drains have been painted in St. Clair.

The project has 21 artists participating. Donna Mitchell-Collins, who has been an artist for 30 years, said she's glad to be a part of the project.

"My dad was a wildlife biologist for the state, so I grew up knowing my power to affect the environment," she said. "So when this project came around, it was like my dad from heaven saying, 'This is what I want you to work on.'"

Mitchell-Collins plans on painting a mural depicting wildlife such as turtles, owls and wolves in Port Huron.

Lydia Nicholas, the environmental field technician for Friends of the St. Clair River, said the project also hopes to encourage creativity with local youth artists.

“This is a unique opportunity that many artists don’t get, let alone youth artists, and we really wanted to foster that creativity,” they said.

The project also has older artists mentoring the youth artists. Mitchell-Collins will be teaming up with a youth artist when she comes to Port Huron.

"It will be nice to work with another person in the Port Huron area, see what she can do and encourage her," she said.

Nicholas said reception of the project has been phenomenal. They said people have been excited to see the murals pop up around the community.

“People think this is a great project,” they said. “They’re excited we’ve included local artists and bringing a pop of color to the community.”

More information about the storm drain project can be found on the Friends of St. Clair River’s website, www.scriver.org.

Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com or (810) 292-0122.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Friends of St. Clair River use storm drain art project for awareness