Rain Gardens & Bioswales Construction(National Ground Water Association, May 2011)

1. Rain Gardens & Bioswales By Tom Barrett Green Water Infrastructure, Inc. www.ThinkGWI.com Follow us on Twitter @TomBarrett_GWI Tom.Barrett@ThinkGWI.com © 2011 Tom Barrett
2. The GREEN Economy
3. How Much Rain Falls in Baltimore? January - 3.47" Image of Rain Falling February - 3.02" March - 3.93" April - 3.00" May - 3.89" June - 3.43" July - 3.85" August - 3.74" September - 3.98" October - 3.16" November - 3.12" December - 3.35" Total 41.94"
4. How Much Water Falls in Baltimore? 2,500 sq. ft. Roof January - ,408 gallons 5 Image of Rain Falling February - ,706 4 March - ,125 6 April - 4,675 May - ,062 6 June - 5,345 July - ,000 6 August - ,829 5 September - ,203 6 October - ,925 4 November - 4,862 December - 5,221 Total 5,361 6
5. How Much Water Falls in Baltimore? 3 Acre Commercial Property January - 82,673 gallons 2 Image of Rain Falling February - 46,015 2 March - 20,146 3 April - 244,386 May - 16,887 3 June - 279,415 July - 13,629 3 August - 04,668 3 September - 24,219 3 October - 57,420 2 November - 254,161 December - 272,898 Total 3,416,517
6. How Much Water Falls in Baltimore? City Block (5 acres) January - 71,122 gallons 4 February - 10,025 4 March - 33,576 5 April - 407,310 May - 28,145 5 June - 465,691 July - 22,715 5 August - 507,780 September - 40,365 5 October - 29,033 4 November - 423,602 December - 454,830 Total 5,694,194
7. Low Impact Site Development
8. Stormwater Mitigation Stormwater Mitigation Stormwater Mitigation Stormwater Mitigation Stormwater Mitigation
9. Peak Flow (2,500 ft. sq. Roof) Grass Field Roof 1 Year Storm 36 gpm 111 gpm 2 Year Storm 54 gpm 139 gpm 10 Year Storm 111 gpm 206 gpm 25 Year Storm 147 gpm 245 gpm 100 Year Storm 206 gpm 309 gpm gpm – gallons per minute
10. Peak Flow (1 Acre Site) Grass Field Roof 1 Year Storm 630 gpm 1,932 gpm 2 Year Storm 942 gpm 2,424 gpm 10 Year Storm 1,932 gpm 3,588 gpm 25 Year Storm 2,556 gpm 4,266 gpm 100 Year Storm 3,588 gpm 5,388 gpm gpm – gallons per minute
11. Change in Peak Runoff Flow Before and after Development 300% 225% 150% 75% 0% m m m m m S tor S tor S tor S tor S tor ar r r r r Ye ea Ye a Ye a Ye a 1 2Y 10 25 0 10 Stormwater Effects of Urbanization
12. Image of Rain Falling
13. Pesticide Issues Atrazine, Nitrogen, Phosphorous
14. Stormwater Mitigation – Collection runoff near the source – Slow it down – Soak it in – Filter it – Apply it to the landscape – Create habitats
15. Simple Rain garden
16. Bioswales Engineered Soils Underdrain
17. Location Plant Choices Rain gardens are often located at the end of a roof or drain spout. Choose plants based on the need for light and soil type. Depth Size Soil A Rain Garden usually A tpical mix is 65% A typical Rain Garden five to ten percent of sand, 15% top soil, is between four to the impervious surface 25% organic matter. eight inches deep. area. Rain Gardens
18. Rain Garden
19. Bioswales Burnsville, Minnesota
20. Native Vegetation www.epa.gov/greenacres/ www.for-wild.org
21. Street Edges & Medians
22. Parking Lot Edges
23. Parking Lot Islands
24. Driveway Edge
25. Neighborhoods
26. Rain Garden Indianapolis
27. Rain Garden Indianapolis - Fall Creek Parkway
28. Functional Landscapes
29. Thank You

Editor's Notes

Tom Barrett is owner of Green Water Infrastructure. He has over thirty years of successful landscape industry experience and is known as an accomplished corporate growth and change agent.\n\nMr. Barrett has held various leadership positions at such industry leaders as Rain Bird, Kenney Machinery, Ewing, Netafim, and MacAllister Machinery. He has worked with such projects as Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. He has won numerous awards in Quality and Process Improvement, and is a frequent contributor of articles for numerous publications.\n\nMr. Barrett holds a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy and Plant Genetics from the University of Arizona. He furthered his studies in architecture at Syracuse Univ. He holds multiple certifications in irrigation and water conservation. Tom is a member of the Indiana Nursery and Landscape Association, as well as the International Irrigation Association, in which he chairs the Communications Committee. He is an approved instructor for the Irrigation Association.\n\nTom Barrett has been sharing his expertise and his ideas in energetic and dynamic presentations for over twenty years. He is a master trainer. His presentations empower people to become masters of change, rather than victims of circumstance by developing tools for transformative thinking. \n\nCurrently, Tom delivers over thirty presentations each year to organizations around the country. He is well-suited to talk to us today about Rain Gardens & Bioswales. Please join me in welcoming, TOM BARRETT!\n
Green Infrastructure, Green Highways, and Green Streets will be the foundation for the rebuilding and expansion of our nations infrastructure and a key to our economic growth in the 21st Century. Green is the development of innovative approaches and strategies on how to integrate integrate grey and green infrastructure in order to protect water resources and promote sustainable design and community development. We have an opportunity to use a comprehensive approach that takes advantage of our experience on pilot projects, research, the development of standards and specifications, manuals of practice, training, and environmental management systems in order to integrate and institutionalize green approaches. \n
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At the largest scale, the preservation and restoration of natural landscape features (such as forests, floodplains and wetlands) are critical components of green stormwater infrastructure. By protecting these ecologically sensitive areas, communities can improve water quality while providing wildlife habitat and opportunities for outdoor recreation.\nOn a smaller scale, green infrastructure practices include rain gardens, porous pavements, green roofs, infiltration planters, trees and tree boxes, and rainwater harvesting for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and landscape irrigation.\n\nPicture the grime of city streets -- oil, grease and soot from cars and trucks; pet waste; trash and litter; sediment and debris from construction sites; and a mix of toxic chemicals. Now picture the same streets after a rainstorm. They look cleaner, right? Sure, but the debris and contaminants haven't just disappeared -- they've been swept through street drains and underground pipes then washed directly into the nearby river, lake or bay.\nWherever humans have paved or built over the natural world, dirty rainwater tends to run straight into our waterways, contaminating the water, destroying habitat and damaging property. Known as urban runoff, this type of pollution can have serious consequences, from fouling drinking water to closing beaches and poisoning shellfish beds. Indeed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now considers urban runoff and pollution from other diffuse sources the greatest contaminant threat to our nation's waters. The good news is that there are a number of proven solutions that towns and cities can use to reduce runoff pollution.\nOne new and exciting approach has emerged in recent years. Called "low-impact development," it uses both simple common sense and technology -- strategically placed beds of native plants, rain barrels, "green roofs," porous surfaces for parking lots and roads, and other tools -- to help rainfall evaporate back into the atmosphere or soak into the ground, rather than polluting the nearest water body. In effect, low-impact development mimics nature's own filtering systems. The result is less water pollution from dirty runoff, less flooding, replenished groundwater supplies -- and often, more natural-looking, aesthetically pleasing cityscapes.\n
Today we rapidly collect it, condense it, and move it into our local waterways.\n\nIn a forest, 92% to 98% of that water is return to the environment in a natural fashion. 8% goes into the atmosphere as evaporation and transpiration. The rest goes though the soil trough a natural cleansing process and is returned to our lakes, streams, and ground water. \n
Over the last twenty years our population has grown 8%. Our impermeable surface areas have increased 40%\n
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The problem is we combine stormwater with wastewater and overflow our sewerage systems. 749 communities have combined stormwater/wastewater systems. As little &#xBC;&#x201D; of rain causes them to overflow, dumping raw, untreated sewer water into our waterways.\n
Stormwater is the largest contributor to water pollution today.\n
40% of our potable water supply systems exceeding the EPA&#x2019;s permissible levels for atrazine.\n
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Bioswales differ from Rain Gardens because they are usually engineered soils with an underdrain. Rain Gardens are preferable because they are less expensive and less susceptible to failure.\n
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\nwww.inpaws.org \nIndiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society home page \n \nwww.epa.gov/greenacres/ \nThe Environmental Protection Agency Web page on landscaping with native wildflowers and grasses. Includes \nonline handbook on building and maintaining a natural landscape, information on weed laws and more. \n \nwww.for-wild.org \nWild Ones - Natural Landscapers home page. Offers tips on landscaping with native plants. \n
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Why Choose Green Infrastructure?\nNature works best: Rivers, streams, wetlands, floodplains, and forests provide a suite of critical services like clean water and flood protection, and should be viewed as essential and effective components of our water infrastructure. New York City has great quality tap water because the city invested in water protection by purchasing land around its Catskills reservoirs to ensure that polluted runoff from roads and lawns doesn&#x2019;t enter the water supply.The city&#x2019;s $600 million investment in Catskills land protection and restoration did the job of $6 billion in capital costs to construct a water filtration plant as well as $200-300 million in annual operation and maintenance costs.\nWe can&#x2019;t waste money: Spending money wisely means investing in multi-purpose solutions that lower costs and provide more benefits. Recently, the City of Baltimore announced that by using wetlands, trees, and downspout disconnection to reduce stormwater flows into their combined sewer system, the City will be able to reduce the diameter of the planned new sewer pipe from 33&#x2019; to 26&#x2019;, saving over $300 million. \nWe must enhance community safety and enjoyment: Traditional infrastructure isn&#x2019;t designed to handle the increased floods and droughts that come with global warming, so we need a modern approach to protect public health, safety, and quality of life. Green solutions give communities the security and flexibility they need. Napa, CA solved flooding problems by choosing to restore the Napa River&#x2019;s natural channel and wetlands, rather than lining the river with concrete. The effort has protected 2,700 homes and prevented $26 million in flood damage each year, and has created new parks and open space.\nReturn to Top\nGreen Infrastructure is Good for Jobs and the Economy\nThese green solutions create good jobs in many sectors, including plumbing, landscaping, engineering, building, and design. Green infrastructure also supports supply chains and the jobs connected with manufacturing of materials including roof membranes, rainwater harvesting systems, and permeable pavement. \nNew York City&#x2019;s broad sustainability plan, PlaNYC, includes substantial investments in green infrastructure to reduce stormwater and sewage overflows and protect drinking water supplies. The City estimates that full implementation of PlaNYC will create 4,449 water infrastructure jobs of all types per year.\nOther countries are utilizing green water technologies at a much higher rate than the United States. We cannot afford to fall behind other nations in this vital area, it is a matter of economic competitiveness as well as quality of life and community security.A New Vision for Water\nWe are at a crossroads today in how we manage our water. Traditional water infrastructure will continue to play a role, but it is static, solves only a single problem, and requires a huge expense to build and maintain. We must use this transformational moment to move from old 19th Century infrastructure to a wiser combination of green and traditional infrastructure that will meet the needs of the 21st Century. \n
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Rain Gardens & Bioswales Construction(National Ground Water Association, May 2011)

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