Background and more on the Reynoldsburg Rain Garden
Kurt Keljo
I am not sure what the group as a whole knows about this topic. If you would like to get some general information about rain gardens, please look at: http://www.centralohioraingardens.org/. I have also attached a picture of the Reynoldsburg rain garden with the infamous puddle at the base of the sidewalk in the background.
Reynoldsburg Parks and Recreation Department had the opportunity to get some grant money from the Friends of the Scioto River for projects related to stream restoration/protection. Proposals to fund a rain garden in Huber Park and a riparian tree planting in Civic Park were submitted. Grant money was allocated for the rain garden. Parks and Recreation wanted the rain garden to address the problem of a puddle that often forms at the bottom of the sidewalk in Huber Park.
Most rain gardens are not installed to make wet areas drier. They are usually intended to maximize rain water infiltration/minimize rain water runoff. The Senior Center garden will increase infiltration and reduce runoff. It may or may not have a significant impact on puddle formation. As a result, putting a garden in the Senior Center location--grant-suported or not--may prove to have been a strategic mistake. The project appears to have become controversial and politicized.
At worst, Reynoldsburg will have a grant-supported, publicly visible, functional, rain garden that does what rain gardens do--infiltrate rain water and reduce runoff. There will also be appropriate educational signage. The garden will need to be weeded once or twice a year, and trash will need to be removed periodically.
If people judge the garden, I hope that they will do so according to the following design criteria:
1. Whether or not the water in the garden drains within 24 hrs.
2. Whether or not the plants survive.
3. Whether or not the garden successfully intercepts the water that leaves the NE corner of the parking lot and allows it to infilitrate.
4. Whether or not the garden requires more maintenance than one would expect a garden to require.
5. Whether or not it is a reasonably attractive garden--in the manner of rain gardens.
I have more hope than Mark does for the garden's potential impact on the puddle problem. However, the success or failure of the garden should not hinge on its ability to eliminate the puddle. If it did, we never would have installed the garden. The best it can possibly do is reduce the problem.
Peace!
Kurt
--- On Tue, 8/2/11, Mark McKenzie <ma...@madspeaker.com> wrote:
> From: Mark McKenzie <ma...@madspeaker.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sustainable Reynoldsburg] Reynoldsburg Rain Garden
> To: sustainable-...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 10:43 AM
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:38:58 -0700
> (PDT)
> Kurt Keljo <ks...@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi All!
> >
> > Inasmuch as I helped design the rain garden, perhaps I
> can be of
> > help. The parking lot has its own watersheds and
> does not all flow
> > in one direction. Much of the flow is to the north
> and west.
> > However, there is a section of the parking lot that
> does flow to the
> > northeast. There may be some water from the roof
> that flows in that
> > direction as well, but it is hard to tell for
> sure.
> >
> > The garden at the Senior Center is designed to receive
> the rain water
> > that flows from that NE corner of the parking
> lot. There will be a
> > drain intercepting the flow that will direct the water
> into the
> > garden. The hope is that the garden will reduce
> the puddle that
> > forms at the low point of the sidewalk--perhaps even
> eliminate it at
> > times. There are times when there is enough rain
> to cause Blacklick
> > to back up into the flood plain. At other times,
> water seems to just
> > collect in the flood plain there. Under those
> conditions, the rain
> > garden will not help. It will only help when a
> significant portion
> > of the water in the puddle comes from the parking
> lot.
> >
> > When water does flow into the garden, it is designed
> to drain within
> > 24 hours. Even if the garden is filled to the
> edge (approximately 8"
> > deep), the water should percolate into the soil within
> 24 hours.
> > That way, any mosquito eggs laid in the water would
> not have time to
> > hatch. The size of the garden should allow it to
> contain the water
> > during the vast majority of rain storms in Central
> Ohio. The size of
> > the drainage area and the speed with which the water
> drains into the
> > ground determines the size of the garden. It was
> a bit hard to
> > determine how large an area actually drains to that
> corner of the
> > lot, so it will be interesting to see whether or not
> the size is
> > appropriate.I am curious to see how it will function,
> once it is all
> > finished.
> >
> > Hopefully, this helps explain things a bit in the
> meantime.
> >
> > Kurt
> >
> Conceptually, something is wrong here. Check for
> yourself, it is
> easy to do.
>
> Take a carpenter's level and check the slope of the parking
> lot and
> then step off the area. The paved area of the parking
> lot with any
> eastern slope is less than 400 square feet. Even this
> area, however,
> has about a five to one ratio of north to east slope.
> This is just the
> area directly south of the little shed at the northeast
> corner of the
> parking lot. Also, compared to the paved area of the
> pathway
> (not parking lot) leading down to the puddle region, the
> east sloping
> parking lot is insignificant.
>
> With so little runoff entering the "rain" garden, I have no
> doubt that
> it can handle the water. I do have some concern that
> an already
> overloaded Parks and Rec staff can keep up with the
> "garden"
> maintenance.
>
> Now I wonder where the drain is going to be installed and
> how large the
> drain will be.
>
> Mark
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> Google Groups "Sustainable Reynoldsburg" group.
> To post to this group, send email to sustainable-...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> sustainable-reynol...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sustainable-reynoldsburg?hl=en.
>
>
