LIVERMORE – Six-year-old Madeline Timberlake had to close her eyes and not open them until Gov. John Baldacci said she could.

When she did open them, she had a large medal with a bright red, white and blue ribbon hanging around her neck.

The first-grader has been on a campaign to educate people about the importance of keeping water clean.

Armed with stencils, paint and a bevy of volunteers, she hit the streets of Livermore Falls last fall to mark 120 storm drains to remind people that clean water starts with them.

She was surprised that 25 people turned out to help. Timberlake, her stepmother Christine, father Matt, and baby brother, Paxton in a stroller, made up one team.

Timberlake remembers the day and her route downtown Livermore Falls quite clearly.

“It kind of stunk,” she said.

A truck hauling chicken manure had spilled some on Main Street the day before and the odor lingered for sometime.

The petite, 43-inch-tall girl who weighs 43 pounds, is quick with her mind and knows a lot about storm water pollution prevention.

She had seen yellow rubber duckies swirling into drains going into a waterway during a “Think Blue Maine” commercial and decided she’d look into it herself.

With her family’s help, she did just that. In the process, she learned about living in a watershed area and what people can and should do to prevent pollution from going into a storm drain, and eventually into a water body, without being treated.

Her goal was “to educate people because animals are important so they can swim in the water and can drink the water. We want the water to be clean so we cannot have pollution. We want the water to be clean so we can swim in it and drink it. And remember, clean water starts with you. Period. Exclamation point.”

Her father checked with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection about his daughter’s goals. Then the family received stencils and some paint and presented Madeline’s plan to the Jay-Livermore-Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce.

She was on her way.

And last week Timberlake was recognized as a “clean water champion” by the governor, Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner David Littell and legislative leaders at the Hall of Flags at the State House.

Besides a medal, she also has a plaque and an original yellow “Think Blue” ducky that went down the storm drain on the commercial that Littell gave her.

“I was a little nervous, but not scared,” she said of meeting the governor. “There were so (many) people there. I’m like rolling my eyes back and forth.”

“We’re very, very proud of her,” her stepmother, Christine said. “You don’t see too many young children get involved in leadership roles and try to educate a community about the potential of what they may do to their environment and the consequences of that.”

Her daughter recently educated her classmates and has plans to stencil the storm drains at Livermore Elementary School this spring.

“I’m proud because we don’t want our drinking water to be dirty,” Madeline Timberlake said of her accomplishment.

Next year, it’s on to Jay, she said.