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Rain Gardens, Green Roofs, and moreRain gardens, green roofs, and bioswales are just a few of the ways the public is now working to deal with the issue of clean water & stormwater management.
Why should I be concerned about Stormwater Management? Both Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky's sewer systems are inadequate to handle all the stormwater runoff during a heavy rain event. As the systems are built now, both stormwater and raw sewage travel in the same pipe network. When a heavy rain event occurs, there is too much volume entering the system at one time to hold and treat in the water treatment plants. When this occurs, a mixture of stormwater and sewage is dumped directly into the Ohio River.
In 2008, over 14 billion gallons of raw sewage was dumped in the Ohio River.
The EPA is now requiring that the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) take steps to fix this overflow issue. Read more about City of Cincinnati & Hamilton County's settlement with the EPA. Read also USA Today's May 2005 article "Aging systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams" on this issue across the country.
APPROACH TO THE ISSUE Completely replacing Cincinnati's sewage system is cost prohibitive at this point, so the effort is now geared toward reducing the volume entering the system. Because the sewage volume cannot be reduced, work is underway to reduce the amount of stormwater entering the system by creating ways it can naturally be absorbed into the ground or holding it to enter the stormwater system slowly.
Unfortunately, the amount of stormwater increases every year. The more developed the Cincinnati area becomes, the more impermeable surfaces (parking lots, roads, buildings, etc) cover the land and cause all rain runoff to enter the sewer system (vs. naturally soaking into the ground upon impact). Greater runoff after rain storms causes flooding, carries pollutants into streams, raises risks of waterborne diseases, and forces cities and towns to install costly stormwater treatment structures.
There are multiple benefits to rainwater filtering through the ground naturally. First, as mentioned above, runoff is kept out the the sewer system. Secondly, by holding back runoff, pollutants (oil and gas from cars, salt on the roads, pesticides, etc) are prevented from entering storm sewers, and eventually lakes and streams. Instead, these toxins often are "biofiltered" out as they percolate through the soil. Thirdly, groundwater tables are recharged instead of diverting the water to a city sewer system. Lastly, chances for local flooding and the need for more costly municipal storm water treatment structures is reduced.
SOLUTIONS There are a number of ways to keep stormwater volume to a minimum. This
includes rain gardens, green roofs, bioswales, permeable pavers, cisterns and
rain barrels, retention ponds, and more: Rain Gardens. A rain garden is simply a garden that soaks up storm water, usually from a roof or parking lot, but can also comes from a lawn, basement sump pump or other sources. It is strategically located to collect storm runoff, formed in a depression in the ground and planted with native plants. During a rain, the garden will temporarily fill with water, but this water will infiltrate back into the soil within a few hours. Rain gardens also supply habitats for beneficial insects, birds and wildlife.
Green Roofs. Green roofs or vegetated roof covers (also called living roofs) are a thin layer of plants growing on top of a roof. A green roof can catch a large amount of rainwater that will be absorbed by the plants, evaporated back into the air, slowly drained off after the rain event. Green roofs will intercept between 15%-90% of rooftop runoff. Additional benefits of green roofs include a 25% increase in insulation for your home, extended life of your roof, and increased sound absorption.
Other Options. There are many other options to deal with stormwater management. This includes installing bioswales (a kind of larger rain garden), permeable pavers that allow water to seep through your patio or driveway, rain barrels or cisterns to capture and reuse rainwater in your garden, and more.
If you are interested in pursuing any of these important stormwater management methods, please contact us. We have both the experience of our own and also relationships with other industry professionals to get the job done right.
Other Resources
OSU Fact Sheet: Stormwater & Your Community
OSU Extension: Rain Gardens & Landscape Storm Water Management Options
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