*[Enwl-eng] Feature: Using Rain Gardens To Keep A Basement Dry
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May 10, 2013, 1:49:32 PM5/10/13
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*Pollution Preventer: Rain Gardens Keep House Dry, Save Waterways*
Illustration Omitted:
Landscape designer and master gardener Lelaneia Dubay designed a
feature to catch and absorb rain water from gutters at a Hartford home.
The water is directed back into the ground instead of flowing into the
Hartford storm drain system. (MICHAEL McANDREWS / Hartford Courant /
October 17, 2012)
April 8, 2013
When Denise Merrill moved into her new house in the West End of
Hartford, she was unhappy to learn it had a wet basement. She was ready
to call in a contractor, but a trip to a garden show suggested a remedy
--- a rain garden. Created in a shallow depression planted with native
plants, the garden absorbs excess rain water and prevents it from
entering the sewer system and the basement.
With the help of her neighbor, landscape designer Lelaneia Dubay, water
from the downspouts on Merrill's house is now channeled away from the
house through a shallow ditch lined with 2.5 feet of rocks and gravel.
An area of soil heavy with clay was dug out and replaced by sand,
topsoil and compost to encourage rapid drainage. Dubay added plants
native to Connecticut --- black-eyed Susans, blueberry bushes, butterfly
reed and cone flowers, which are able to absorb lots of water in a short
period of time, and she mulched the plants heavily.
To embellish the design, Merrill added two granite bridges over what
looks like a dry riverbed. "I think it is esthetically wonderful," she
said. "It's so environmentally positive, and it drained the water out of
the basement: an added plus."
On the other side of the house, the drainpipe from the gutter now opens
into a bio-swale --- a shallow gravel stretch that allows the water to
seep into the earth instead of running down the driveway into the street
and then the sewer.
Sign Up For Traffic Text Alerts
Dubay, owner of Dubay Design in Hartford, lowered the level of the soil,
which she replaced with a mixture of sand and gravel to allow for
quicker drainage, and covered it with rocks.
While Merrill, the secretary of the state, is pleased that her basement
is now dry, perhaps the rain gardens' most important impact is that
thousands of gallons of water that otherwise would have entered the
Hartford sewer system are now being absorbed and purified by the plants
and the soil itself. The Metropolitan District Commission estimates that
rainfall off the roof of an average-size house is approximately 30,000
gallons a year --- enough to fill a pool 20 by 40 feet and 5 feet deep.
Diverting the water or improving the absorption rate of the soil is
especially significant because streets and catch basins cannot handle
the runoff from streets, parking lots and roofs. The runoff contains
fertilizers, oil, heavy metals, sediments, animal waste and pesticides.
In Hartford, just one inch of rain causes an overflow from the sewage
treatment center. The overflow of mixed storm water and untreated sewage
goes into streams, the Wethersfield Cove and ultimately, the Connecticut
River.
"The big problem is imperviousness," said Chris Cryder, a staff member
at Save the Sound, a branch of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment,
referring to the hard surfaces that make up a city: streets, parking
lots, sidewalks. "Cities are over 90 percent impervious, and all that
water goes into catch basins and large sewage overflow systems.... Our
slogan is 'What goes on the ground goes in the Sound.' "
The Metropolitan District Commission estimates that 1 billion gallons of
mixed raw sewage and treated water flow yearly into the streams and
tributaries of the Connecticut River. Another billion gallons of mixed
sewage and storm water come down the river from Springfield, Chicopee
and Holyoke, and all the water ends up in Long Island Sound. MDC chief
operating officer Scott Johnson estimates that the job of separating the
storm water from the sewage pipes, begun in 2007, will take another 15 years
"People in Hartford don't think of pollution in Long Island Sound as
their problem," said Merrill. "Here, the closest we get is pollution
running into the Connecticut River."
Urban planners, city officials and organizations that promote clean
water have worked over the past few years to promote the idea of "green
infrastructure," which includes, but goes far beyond, rain gardens.
Other ideas: Green roofs, covered with soil and plants; bioswales, which
are narrow rain gardens that run along a street or driveway; pervious
pavements, and cisterns --- anything to retain water and keep it from
entering storm drains, Cryder said.
When Suzanne Ducate was building a house in Avon, she was concerned
about the sheets of water that ran down the road and cascaded down her
driveway. She feared the erosion it would cause, as well as the ice
buildup in the winter.
"I wanted something that was a natural landscape," Ducate said, and
after searching for an environmentally sensitive landscape designer, she
found Clémence Corriveau of West Hartford, owner of Ecological Landscape
Designs.
Corriveau created a rain garden next to the driveway by lowering the
area slightly and planting river birches and hay-scented ferns. Their
roots absorbed the water, which had the added benefit of reducing the
run-off into her neighbor's garage. In the winter, the birch leaves
fertilize the ferns.
The University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension Service and the
Metropolitan District Commission have constructed rain gardens and other
water-saving demonstration projects around the state that show ways to
reduce the amount of rainwater that flows into streets, sewers and catch
basins. Examples of rain gardens may be seen at the Classical Magnet
School in Hartford, the Eleanor Buck Wolf Nature Center in Wethersfield,
the Beardsley Park Zoo, the Roaring Brook School in Avon and the Storrs
mansion on Farmington Ave. in Hartford. Much of the work done by the
extension service involves educating land use officials about the
importance of water retention and making surfaces more permeable through
a program called NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials).
At the state Capitol in Hartford, the MDC replaced some of the walkways
with pervious pavement made of pavers, asphalt or concrete. It built a
cistern to collect water from the Capitol's roof, and added a "green
roof" over an underground space for heating elements. At the northwest
corner of Capitol Avenue and Trinity Street, it built two rain gardens
that are models for home gardeners. The projects were funded by MDC and
the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
This year, MDC gave away about 800 rain barrels that can be attached to
downspouts and used to water the garden while keeping water out of the
street and reducing the amount of water purchased from the company.
Interns built a rain garden in the front of the Asylum Hill
Congregational Church in Hartford.
Dubay, who designed Merrill's garden, says she incorporates rain garden
elements into all her clients' gardens --- she just doesn't always
mention it. By replacing clay soil with sand, potting soil and compost,
she improves the drainage. To avoid erosion, she sometimes covers the
soil with rocks.
Dubay often redirects the openings of downspouts, many of which release
water too close to the house, which can cause a wet basement, or can
cascade down a driveway into the street and the storm drain. Sometimes
she buries the pipe -----the goal is to keep water off the street. "I
feel strongly about people being responsible for the water on their
property," she said.
The University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture and Natural
Resources has an easily downloadable brochure on how to create a rain
garden at http/nemo.uconn.edu/raingardens, and there is a lot of other
information available on the Internet. Homeowners do not need a
landscape designer to install their own rain garden, and the brochure
shows how it can be done easily and inexpensively.
"The design work is pretty easy," said Mike Dietz, water resources
educator at the Extension Service. "Gardeners can do it."
Easy to follow directions show how to calculate the amount of rain
run-off in order to determine the size of the garden. It provides a list
of native plants that can thrive with extra moisture -- not water
plants. The website shows how to lay a rock foundation and improve the
drainage or infiltration rate of the soil. When homeowners do the
digging themselves, their only expenses are for rocks, compost, sand,
potting soil and plants.
While rain gardens are relatively new in Connecticut, their use has been
promoted by water conservation-minded experts for years. "This is really
a national phenomenon. It's happening all over the country," said Deitz.
"I look forward to this becoming more of a norm in the future."
http://www.courant.com/business/real-estate/hc-rain-garden-20130408,0,4715196.story
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed, without profit, for research and educational
purposes only. ***
From: "Yahoo Newsgroups" <vasi...@ramapo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 1:27 PM
Subject: Feature: Using Rain Gardens To Keep A Basement Dry
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Illustration Omitted:
Landscape designer and master gardener Lelaneia Dubay designed a
feature to catch and absorb rain water from gutters at a Hartford home.
The water is directed back into the ground instead of flowing into the
Hartford storm drain system. (MICHAEL McANDREWS / Hartford Courant /
October 17, 2012)
April 8, 2013
When Denise Merrill moved into her new house in the West End of
Hartford, she was unhappy to learn it had a wet basement. She was ready
to call in a contractor, but a trip to a garden show suggested a remedy
--- a rain garden. Created in a shallow depression planted with native
plants, the garden absorbs excess rain water and prevents it from
entering the sewer system and the basement.
With the help of her neighbor, landscape designer Lelaneia Dubay, water
from the downspouts on Merrill's house is now channeled away from the
house through a shallow ditch lined with 2.5 feet of rocks and gravel.
An area of soil heavy with clay was dug out and replaced by sand,
topsoil and compost to encourage rapid drainage. Dubay added plants
native to Connecticut --- black-eyed Susans, blueberry bushes, butterfly
reed and cone flowers, which are able to absorb lots of water in a short
period of time, and she mulched the plants heavily.
To embellish the design, Merrill added two granite bridges over what
looks like a dry riverbed. "I think it is esthetically wonderful," she
said. "It's so environmentally positive, and it drained the water out of
the basement: an added plus."
On the other side of the house, the drainpipe from the gutter now opens
into a bio-swale --- a shallow gravel stretch that allows the water to
seep into the earth instead of running down the driveway into the street
and then the sewer.
Sign Up For Traffic Text Alerts
Dubay, owner of Dubay Design in Hartford, lowered the level of the soil,
which she replaced with a mixture of sand and gravel to allow for
quicker drainage, and covered it with rocks.
While Merrill, the secretary of the state, is pleased that her basement
is now dry, perhaps the rain gardens' most important impact is that
thousands of gallons of water that otherwise would have entered the
Hartford sewer system are now being absorbed and purified by the plants
and the soil itself. The Metropolitan District Commission estimates that
rainfall off the roof of an average-size house is approximately 30,000
gallons a year --- enough to fill a pool 20 by 40 feet and 5 feet deep.
Diverting the water or improving the absorption rate of the soil is
especially significant because streets and catch basins cannot handle
the runoff from streets, parking lots and roofs. The runoff contains
fertilizers, oil, heavy metals, sediments, animal waste and pesticides.
In Hartford, just one inch of rain causes an overflow from the sewage
treatment center. The overflow of mixed storm water and untreated sewage
goes into streams, the Wethersfield Cove and ultimately, the Connecticut
River.
"The big problem is imperviousness," said Chris Cryder, a staff member
at Save the Sound, a branch of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment,
referring to the hard surfaces that make up a city: streets, parking
lots, sidewalks. "Cities are over 90 percent impervious, and all that
water goes into catch basins and large sewage overflow systems.... Our
slogan is 'What goes on the ground goes in the Sound.' "
The Metropolitan District Commission estimates that 1 billion gallons of
mixed raw sewage and treated water flow yearly into the streams and
tributaries of the Connecticut River. Another billion gallons of mixed
sewage and storm water come down the river from Springfield, Chicopee
and Holyoke, and all the water ends up in Long Island Sound. MDC chief
operating officer Scott Johnson estimates that the job of separating the
storm water from the sewage pipes, begun in 2007, will take another 15 years
"People in Hartford don't think of pollution in Long Island Sound as
their problem," said Merrill. "Here, the closest we get is pollution
running into the Connecticut River."
Urban planners, city officials and organizations that promote clean
water have worked over the past few years to promote the idea of "green
infrastructure," which includes, but goes far beyond, rain gardens.
Other ideas: Green roofs, covered with soil and plants; bioswales, which
are narrow rain gardens that run along a street or driveway; pervious
pavements, and cisterns --- anything to retain water and keep it from
entering storm drains, Cryder said.
When Suzanne Ducate was building a house in Avon, she was concerned
about the sheets of water that ran down the road and cascaded down her
driveway. She feared the erosion it would cause, as well as the ice
buildup in the winter.
"I wanted something that was a natural landscape," Ducate said, and
after searching for an environmentally sensitive landscape designer, she
found Clémence Corriveau of West Hartford, owner of Ecological Landscape
Designs.
Corriveau created a rain garden next to the driveway by lowering the
area slightly and planting river birches and hay-scented ferns. Their
roots absorbed the water, which had the added benefit of reducing the
run-off into her neighbor's garage. In the winter, the birch leaves
fertilize the ferns.
The University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension Service and the
Metropolitan District Commission have constructed rain gardens and other
water-saving demonstration projects around the state that show ways to
reduce the amount of rainwater that flows into streets, sewers and catch
basins. Examples of rain gardens may be seen at the Classical Magnet
School in Hartford, the Eleanor Buck Wolf Nature Center in Wethersfield,
the Beardsley Park Zoo, the Roaring Brook School in Avon and the Storrs
mansion on Farmington Ave. in Hartford. Much of the work done by the
extension service involves educating land use officials about the
importance of water retention and making surfaces more permeable through
a program called NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials).
At the state Capitol in Hartford, the MDC replaced some of the walkways
with pervious pavement made of pavers, asphalt or concrete. It built a
cistern to collect water from the Capitol's roof, and added a "green
roof" over an underground space for heating elements. At the northwest
corner of Capitol Avenue and Trinity Street, it built two rain gardens
that are models for home gardeners. The projects were funded by MDC and
the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
This year, MDC gave away about 800 rain barrels that can be attached to
downspouts and used to water the garden while keeping water out of the
street and reducing the amount of water purchased from the company.
Interns built a rain garden in the front of the Asylum Hill
Congregational Church in Hartford.
Dubay, who designed Merrill's garden, says she incorporates rain garden
elements into all her clients' gardens --- she just doesn't always
mention it. By replacing clay soil with sand, potting soil and compost,
she improves the drainage. To avoid erosion, she sometimes covers the
soil with rocks.
Dubay often redirects the openings of downspouts, many of which release
water too close to the house, which can cause a wet basement, or can
cascade down a driveway into the street and the storm drain. Sometimes
she buries the pipe -----the goal is to keep water off the street. "I
feel strongly about people being responsible for the water on their
property," she said.
The University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture and Natural
Resources has an easily downloadable brochure on how to create a rain
garden at http/nemo.uconn.edu/raingardens, and there is a lot of other
information available on the Internet. Homeowners do not need a
landscape designer to install their own rain garden, and the brochure
shows how it can be done easily and inexpensively.
"The design work is pretty easy," said Mike Dietz, water resources
educator at the Extension Service. "Gardeners can do it."
Easy to follow directions show how to calculate the amount of rain
run-off in order to determine the size of the garden. It provides a list
of native plants that can thrive with extra moisture -- not water
plants. The website shows how to lay a rock foundation and improve the
drainage or infiltration rate of the soil. When homeowners do the
digging themselves, their only expenses are for rocks, compost, sand,
potting soil and plants.
While rain gardens are relatively new in Connecticut, their use has been
promoted by water conservation-minded experts for years. "This is really
a national phenomenon. It's happening all over the country," said Deitz.
"I look forward to this becoming more of a norm in the future."
http://www.courant.com/business/real-estate/hc-rain-garden-20130408,0,4715196.story
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed, without profit, for research and educational
purposes only. ***
From: "Yahoo Newsgroups" <vasi...@ramapo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 1:27 PM
Subject: Feature: Using Rain Gardens To Keep A Basement Dry
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service: http://www.bellona.ru/enwl/
Russian: ENWL(discussions), ENWL-inf(FSU information), ENWL-misc(any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://enwl.bellona.ru/pipermail/
and http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
SEE ALSO: http://www.bellona.org (English)and http://www.bellona.ru
(Russian)
RSS: http://groups.google.ru/group/enwl/feeds?hl=ru
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------
ONLY if your address is subscribed:
Enwl-eng mailing list
Enwl...@enwl.bellona.ru
http://enwl.bellona.ru/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/enwl-eng
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