Rain garden community build!

You are invited to take part in a rain garden community build at the George Dixon Community Centre, 2502 Brunswick Street in Halifax. The event will take place on September 12th from 12-2 pm. 
Please RSVP to water@ecologyaction.ca 

Click here to read our February blog post on rain gardens.

Xeriscape Gardening

We are happy to share another blog post written by Mike Price. This time Mike covers xeriscape (zer-i-skape) gardening, a method of gardening that reduces water and energy use. Climate change is resulting in hotter and drier summers, which means we need to consider new water-efficient ways to  maintain our lawns and gardens. 

Not only did Mike Price write this blog, he also shared a great photo of  his water-efficient garden!

Xeriscaping … a natural, water-efficient
 garden for surviving hot and dry summers

Designing landscapes that match local conditions with xeric (or water-wise) plants, trees and shrubs that will thrive. Xeriscaping literally means dry gardening and was invented in Colorado in the 1980’s. 

Do you have to re-engineer your whole garden to switch to this "xeriscaping"?

No you don't. You can change part of it. Maybe you have a problem area where your present maintenance isn't working well. Maybe you have an area that isn't very attractive in its present state. Eventually you may want to change your whole yard to an Eco-garden, but you can do it a section at a time.

If areas are to be paved for recreation purposes then open joints allow for rain-water to soak into the ground rather than running off the property.

The best way to plan the change is to check with your local nursery, or check in a book or on the internet to find which plants are drought-tolerant, then move the plants that need regular, frequent watering to another part of your garden and replace them in your new dry land area with new plants known to be drought-tolerant.

Is this stuff hard?

This is not rocket science. It's the old learning curve: steeper at first, easier later. Most plants are quite adaptable and give you lots of warning when all is not well with them. And gardens are often somewhat of a "work-in-progress". Plants die, get too big, don't do what you thought they would, or would look better in some other part of the garden. But if you move plants around too often, sticking them here, then there, it’s known as ‘velcro-gardening’!

If you are going to try xeriscap gardening, you do need to know a bit more about plants and soils than the "water every few days" that is adequate when you have loads of rain-water.

There are seven principles of xeriscape gardening. Check out the details at the Toronto Water website. 

By following these seven basic principles when xeriscaping your lawn and garden, you can create a lush, colourful and unique garden that requires less maintenance and water – leaving you to sit back and enjoy your summer. Or travel without worrying about who will water what!

Water-wise plants for xeriscaped gardens

For a complete list of suitable plants that are readily available, visit your local garden centre or look on websites such as the Urban Farmer.

It is a safe bet when looking for drought tolerant plants to pick ones with grey or bluish foliage, usually a sign that they can take the heat and need little water.

Xeriscape Demonstration Gardens

Fort Collins, Colorado

Attributes of good Xeriscape education gardens include labels for plant materials, other interpretive materials such as brochures and plant lists, grouping of plant by similar water needs, ease of public access including ADA standards and availability of knowledgeable persons to explain the garden to visitors. Feedback from visitors to the garden owners or managers should be encouraged.

As a real ‘alternative’ garden concept one could even consider “hugelkultur” instead of irrigation! 

Rain Chains

Rain Chain (Photo: M.Price)

Rain chains are a great, decorative alternative to traditional downspouts. They are linked chains that visibly transport water from your roof gutter to the ground. They are a beautiful addition to any home or building and can contribute to runoff reduction through evaporation and spillage as well as reduce soil erosion. Rain chains have been used for centuries on homes and temples in Japan to transport and collect water in large barrels or ceramic pots.

There are two main rain chain designs that are commercially available – cup designs and link designs. The cups have open bottoms and act as funnels, draining water from one cup to the next. Cup designs are more efficient than the traditional link designs that tend to splash more in heavy rains. Both links and cups emit pleasing sounds when water cascades down the chains.

Rain chains are easy to install. They hang from the hole in your gutter where the downspout would connect and often come with simple installation guidelines. You can order rain chains online, find them in stores like Lee Valley Tools or you can make your own!

Photo: www.ecofriend.com

Photo: www.apartmenttherapy.com

Photo: www.altollmfg.com

Urban Water and Your Property Part Two: Drainage

Last week we shared a blog post written by former manager of Toronto Water and current EAC volunteer, Mike Price, on urban water and your property that focused on incoming water. Part two of the post, also contributed by Mike, examines considerations for urban homeowners around water that leaves your property, also known as drainage. 

Photo: bit.ly/NeUL72

The water leaving a typical urban property leaves via surface flow or underground pipes. The surface flow during a rainfall event will take with it all surface pollutants used on, or deposited on, the surface. The underground pipes can be: 

    -  Sanitary sewer containing sanitary waste and maybe weeping tile water depending on the municipality

   -  Storm sewer containing rain water and maybe weeping tile wate

   -  Combined sewer where all liquids are put into one pipe

Current Issues regarding municipal waste water treatment

·    -  Surface waters, lakes, rivers and oceans, are becoming contaminated from human activities, resulting in polluted recreational waters, damage to fish and shellfish, and changes in the whole ecosystem. 

·     - Storm sewer flows are not treated but empty into the nearest waterway

·     - Sanitary sewage takes huge amounts of power to pump and treat before release into the environment

·     - Combined sewers are prone to surcharging and overflow during heavy rainstorms causing surface water pollution

·      - Sanitary sewers and especially combined sewers are prone to backing up and causing basement flooding in heavy rainstorms

·      -  Previous drainage design criteria often required roof drains and weeping tiles be connected to the sewers (thus adding clean water to be expensively treated at sewage treatment plants)

Current solutions for Urban drainage dischargers

    
     To assist with the big picture - sanitary waste solution:

 -   Reduce flows to municipal sanitary sewer by installing water efficient fixtures

 -   Reduce flows to municipal sewers by disconnecting roof downspouts from the sewer

-    Reduce flows to municipal sewers by installing sump pump for weeping tile water and discharge the clean water to the ground for irrigation

 -   Consider ‘grey-water’ reuse such as flushing toilets

 -   Consider a sewer backflow preventer to mitigate against basement flooding

    To assist in implementing storm water management techniques:

 - Rainwater harvesting (methods listed earlier)
 - Eco-gardening

             - Minimize need for water

             - Reduce lawn area  

             - Move to drought tolerant lawn grass

             - Leave grass clippings on the lawn

             - Use ‘push’ lawnmower to reduce pollution

             - Eliminate pesticides and fertilizers on lawns

             - Use shade trees

             - Xeriscaping garden designs

             - Mulch gardens to retain water

             - Discharge roof water via ‘chains’ to garden

             - Consider natural ponds to capture rainwater

             - Decrease paved areas, increase porous areas

   - Don’t wash the car in the driveway

  - Don’t dump any soapy water, waste oil or chemicals down the storm drain (it goes straight  to the nearest creek!)

- Pick up animal feces 

Urban Water and your Property

The following blog post was written by Mike Price, former general manager of Toronto Water and highly valued Ecology Action Centre volunteer. This  post provides a comprehensive overview on the issues and solutions related to incoming water on a property. A subsequent post will look at outgoing water, or drainage. Thanks for the great blog contribution, Mike! 

Downspout deco-chain (Photo: M. Price)

The water used on a typical urban lot comes from two directions. Down from the sky or out of a water pipe. Rainfall can be good, and sometimes hazardous, but we don’t make the best use of it. The water from your tap (potable) can be from several sources:

        - Private untreated supply from a well on the property

        - Municipal treated supply, from the tap, originates from surface water (lake or river) or ground water from wells

·        Current Issues regarding municipal water supplies

      -  Surface waters, lakes and rivers, can become contaminated from human activities. 

      -  The volume of supply from surface water in Canada is dwindling due in part to ‘climate change’, but also due to increased demand. 

      -  Ground water supplies are similarly impacted but depending on the depth of the well the ability to replenish is being negatively impacted by human intervention.

      -   A large amount of energy is used to treat and pump the municipal water to reservoirs and around the water distribution system. 

      -  During hot summer months up to 50% of the water supplied is used for external ground watering.

       - Throughout the year about 60% of the building water use is for flushing toilets

Recreational beach closure (Photo: M.Price)

. Current solutions for urban water providers and users

    Water providers (Province, Municipalities and/or water utilities)

  -   Prepare and implement Source Water Protection Plans

  -   Prepare and promote Water Efficiency Plans

  -   Actively seek out and repair water pipe leaks

  -   Eliminate unnecessary fire hydrant flushing

  -   Minimize energy used in the treatment and distribution of potable water

  -   Prepare and regulate Pollution Prevention Plans

  -   Prepare and implement Storm Water Management Plans

   -  Mitigate the impacts of Combined Sewer Overflows

   Water users (residential and ICI property owners)

 -  Minimize tap water use

     a)   Low flush toilets

     b)   Reduced volume shower and tap heads

     c)   Grey water re-use (for toilet flushing)

    d)   Use more drought resistant garden plants (called Xeriscaping)

    e)   Eco-gardening

     f)   Use timers on automatic sprinklers

 - Maximize rain water use

     a)   Rainwater harvesting

               1.   Downspout disconnection

               2.   Grade property to keep rainwater from running off the property

               3.   Use rain barrels for garden watering

               4.   Create specific areas for a rain garden

               5.   Minimize paved areas

Rain barrel installed at disconnected downspout  (Photo: M. Price)

Pain in the Drain

 This article was written by Heather Hunter and published in the Summer 2012 edition of 'Between the Issues', the Ecology Action Centre's quarterly publication. Thanks for covering this important topic, Heather. The full BTI can be downloaded here.

The last time you were caught in a downpour, jumping over sidewalk rivulets and trying not to get splashed by passing cars, perhaps your thoughts didn’t automatically jump to where does all this water go? What contaminants might be in it?  But stormwater, the rainwater and melted snow that runs off roads, lawns, roofs and other hard surfaces, is an area where some real environmental action is needed. Storm water often contains motor oil, gasoline, sediment, fertilizer and other contaminants which damage natural aquatic habitats.  Without proper stormwater management practices, serious environmental and economic consequences can occur such as erosion and loss of habitat.

Cameron Deacoff, an Environmental Performance Officer with the Halifax Regional Municipality, took some time to explain why we should be giving this issue some major consideration and steps that we can take at individual and municipal levels to improve our storm water management practices.

Why you should care about storm water management
On earth there is a finite amount of water.  Fortunately, water is efficiently conserved through the hydrological cycle – including the processes of evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff & percolation. This natural water cycle is disrupted by human intervention.  In urban landscapes in particular, impervious surfaces such as roofs, roads and parking lots render the land unable to absorb water. Instead, stormwater runs over streets and sidewalks and along the way becomes polluted with oil, garbage, fertilizers, pesticides and other contaminants.  In fact, studies have shown that storm water conveys up to 600 pollutants, many of which may be harmful to both humans and the environment.  Unlike sewage wastewater, stormwater is often not treated before it enters our waterways.

While good stormwater management has always been important, it is now being seen as more of a “hot button” issue as people are gaining a better understanding of the impact on environments, including erosion, removal or destruction of fish and wildlife habitat, and pollution causing direct damage to fish and other aquatic organisms.  We are understanding that stormwater needs to be managed - efforts should be made to reduce contaminants in street run-off, and there should be some treatment before stormwater joins up with natural waterways.  In addition, there is an understanding that we should avoid directing stormwater into wastewater systems (i.e. sewers that handle wastewater from toilets, tubs, laundry etc) because wastewater systems are not designed to treat stormwater flows. During heavy rainfall events, treatment processes can fail as throughput exceeds the capacity of treatment facilities, resulting in untreated overflows. Other risks associated with poor stormwater management include flooding, basement backups, and associated property and financial losses.

The importance of stormwater management is not going to decline any time soon.  Cameron explains that aging infrastructure is making the issue more serious today. “Much of the infrastructure in the ground was put there several decades ago,” he says, “and maintenance and replacement needs are ramping up”. He adds that “climate change is also having an impact on the issue, because our weather patterns are changing, resulting in increasing volumes of precipitation, and increasing intensity of rainfall events. Winters have been milder, resulting in less storage of precipitation as snow and ice, making for shifting hydrological patterns for which stormwater management systems were neither designed nor constructed.”

What you can do
To enhance your individual stormwater management practices, Cameron provided the following tips:

• Retain as much natural land cover on your property as possible (i.e., do not cover the ground with asphalt, concrete, etc. unless necessary).
• Disconnect your downspouts (eaves troughs, foundation drains, sump pumps, etc.) from your house onto the surface of your property for drainage into the ground; or at least ensure that they are not connected to the wastewater sewer system.
• Store and manage waste materials properly so that they do not flow into storm sewers, swales, etc., during a storm. This includes covering dirt piles, removing litter and pet waste.
• Landscape your property with plants and other materials that are native to where you live. These have fewer needs for fertilizers and pesticides, which should be used sparingly if at all.
• Support fees for storm water management. These services benefit you and the environment.

At a municipal policy level, there are many steps that cities and towns in NS can be taking to improve stormwater management practices.  Some recommendations include:

• Having your town or city conduct a review of water-related issues within their jurisdictions, and those shared with neighbouring municipalities.
• Ensuring that municipal urban design & planning jointly consider water quality and water quantity along with land use and transportation.
• Devote some attention to retrofitting issues in older urban areas, not all towards improving development practices in new "greenfield" areas.

Some municipalities such as the City of Cambridge in Massachusetts and Victoria BC have begun implementing progressive by-laws to counter stormwater pollution.  In Cambridge, significant investments in catch basin cleaning, street sweeping, and urban forestry programs have been made.   

In Victoria, bylaws have been passed for businesses as well as construction and development sites. Businesses must be fitted with a “Storm Water Rehabilitation Unit”, which is a generic term for any system designed to remove targeted contaminants. In general, any system that removes solids such as gravel, sand and silt, and floating materials like oils and trash should be adequate. At construction sites, regulations prevent construction waste water from being directly joined to drainage systems or sewer systems, hazardous wastes are tightly controlled with spill plans in place, and after construction has finished the site must be cleaned up to prevent excess gravel, dirt and pollutants from entering natural waterways.

Stormwater management practices may vary across municipalities, and depending on existing infrastructure, different levels of investment may be required. However, the first step is to raise our level of awareness about this issue.   To reduce harm to our natural waterways, and our overall ecological footprint, stormwater management must become a permanent part of our “environmental consciousness”.

Lawn care and stormwater pollution

Photo: www.inharmony.com

Pesticides and fertilizers are among the many common pollutants found in stormwater runoff that can impact water quality. When pesticides wash into local waters they contaminate the water and poison aquatic life. Fertilizers contain nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. These nutrients can overload natural water bodies and result in the growth of algal blooms which use up the water's oxygen and impact fish and other aquatic organisms. 

To protect water quality of lakes, rivers and streams it is strongly recommended that property owners reduce or eliminate the use of cosmetic pesticides and fertilizers. You can still have a healthy, happy lawn without the use of chemicals. Here are some tips to protect your lawn and the surrounding environment:

•  Vinegar is one of the most easily accessible and safest ways to kill weeds. The acetic acid in vinegar breaks down plant cells and kills the top growth.  But, because it does not kill the roots, you’ll have to reapply.   

• Corn gluten meal, found at lawn and garden centres, acts as both a fertilizer and an all-natural herbicide that is effective at preventing the growth of dandelions and other weeds.  It can be applied to an established lawn in early spring before the weeds germinate.

• Kitchen compost and lawn waste make excellent natural fertilizer for your lawn. Or better yet, brew your own compost tea!

• Mow high (6-7 cm) and leave grass clippings on the lawn, which adds nutrients to the soil. The shade of tall, dense grass will overcrowd weeds and reduce growth.

• Aeration is the best fertilizer. Use an aerator to pull plugs of grass out of your lawn to allow more air to reach the roots. This promotes a healthy lawn and results in vigorous new growth.

•  Landscape with native species that will have less need for fertilizers and pesticides.

• Also, remember to pick up after your pets. Pet waste carries numerous bacteria which finds its way into the storm sewer system and ultimately into streams, rivers and lakes.