Sustainable Stormwater Classes for Homeowners & Others

Are you interested in the benefits that stormwater management can bring to your community? Do you want to learn how you can implement practices in your everyday life that will improve water quality? The City of Newberg & Green Girl Land Development Solutions have partnered to bring you this series of classes to choose from.
March 30 Sustainable Stormwater

Apr 13 Rain Gardens

Apr 27 Rain Gardens for Challenging Sites

May 11 Landscaping to Conserve Energy

All classes:

Cost: $10/class

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Location: Newberg Public Safety Building at 401 E. Third Street in Newberg, OR

For more info: www.greengirlpdx.com/Events.htm or see class descriptions below

To register: Contact Sonja Johnson at the City of Newberg at (503) 537-1282 or sonja.johnson@newbergoregon.gov



CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Are you interested in learning more about stormwater? Do you want to install a rain garden? Unsure if you have the appropriate soil or yard size for low impact development? The City of Newberg is sponsoring classes by Green Girl Land Development Solutions to help you answer these questions and more. While the classes are designed as a series, you may participate in as few or as many as you wish for $10 per class. They will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Public Safety Building at 401 E. Third Street every other Wednesday night starting on March 30, 2011.



March 30 Sustainable Stormwater

Join the City of Newberg and Green Girl Land Development Solutions to find out why we have more stormwater in our streets. Learn how air, water, and soil are affected by landscaping and answer the question, “What is sustainable stormwater?” Each participant will receive the guide, Water Efficient Plants for the Willamette Valley.



April 13 Rain Gardens

Learn how to choose the right landscaping option, such as rain gardens or stormwater planters, to fit your site. We’ll answer questions such as, “Where should it go?”, “Where should it not go?”, “How big should it be”, and “How do I get stormwater to it?” Each participant will receive the Oregon Rain Garden Guide. This class provides a strong foundation for the following class on April 27.



April 27 Rain Gardens for Challenging Sites

Many of our yards have clay soil, high groundwater, or slopes that make it more challenging to have sustainable landscaping. In this class, we’ll discuss how to adapt designs for normal conditions for the unique conditions in your yard. Participants should be familiar with rain garden design and their normal landscape requirements.



May 11 Landscaping to Conserve Energy

Use micro-climate strategies to conserve energy inside your home. Learn how to incorporate shade, wind blocks, and cool pavements or roofs into your sustainable stormwater design. Save money while adding beauty to your yard.

Taking Action

Again in the spirit of construction action here is a great resource from the Oregon Environmental Council called "Love Your River." Check out the site, find out what you can do, take a little pledge, enter a drawing for cool stuff. This month features a drawing for a set of REI bike panniers (luggage for your bike, in case your curious). These are nifty enough that they might even get me off my sorry duff in the event I win them. No time like the fall to take up an outdoor sport, eh?

Permeable Pavement Webinar

I had the good fortune to tune in to a webinar sponsored by the Center for Watershed Protection and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network. The webinar contained lots of practical information about performance, installation and maintenance of permeable pavement systems that can be used either on the homeowner or huge commercial scale. While I see many potential applications for the city surrounding me, my overwhelming feeling upon leaving the gathering place for the webinar was to break up concrete and invest in creeping thyme.

Take Back the Power!

Or, How We Can Really Make the Power Companies Even More Dependent on We the Ratepayers

This posting is ostensibly about power generation, so why am I, Oregon Water Thorn, tackling this topic?  Because the issue of distribution and big utilities can, naturally, be translated to water or sewage distribution/collection.  Think about the parallels:

I have a friend that lives over in Bend that was griping the other day about the local electric utility raising rates. A normal response, in fact, a great response, because the rate hike prompted a declaration that the family would lower their electricity use to avoid paying more. Assuming that the electric utility's goal was to cover the increasing costs of electricity generation, then this family's response is perfect. After all, conservation is the cheapest, fastest, and easiest way to increase system capacity regardless of whether a given distribution system delivers electricity or water services. In short, these kinds of homeowners end up working towards the utility's goal of maximizing the resource in the cheapest way possible.

But I know that most homeowners don't understand the real power that comes with distributed power generation. And I use the dualistic word "power" in this context in the "We the People" sense because without we the ratepayers, utilities would not exist.

Given this fundamental linkage between paying rates and the big utility (to draw the obvious comparison for you, paying taxes and the big guv'mint), I don't understand why Tea Party types don't all have grid- or non-grid-tied photovoltaic, or wind, systems on their land. This is the common person's arena where they can jump in to free themselves of the big utility. Free themselves of rate increases. Become independent in that true American homesteading fashion. And, with grid-tied systems, an individual property becomes part of the electric production network which makes the utility just that little bit beholden to you for their stock in trade.

Power to the people, by the people, for the people.

The photovoltaic, or PV, system on the roof of our state capitol building is a most elegant representation of this concept and, in my opinion, one of the best investments Oregon has ever made. And it makes me wonder, why aren't more of us free of monthly power bills?

I suspect it is because of the upfront investment that's needed to take back the power. In a sense, it is the very corporate concept that it takes money to make money that prevents a lot of cash-strapped folks I know from making the investment. But I also know a lot of non-cash-strapped folks that could easily make the investment and that are the classic Tea Party type complainers.

So I have to ask, what is freedom worth? What is it worth to a nation of so-called rugged individualists to be truly independent in such a fundamental part of their lives? Apparently it is not worth much if the ever increasing complaints about rates are any measure.

So to return to my by-line, do I need to draw the parallel with water and wastewater? What is it worth to the folks that want small government to reduce the capacity of our water and wastewater systems? What is it worth to get off the grid of our municipal water and wastewater plants by using less, by harvesting rainwater, by reusing wastewater or greywater on our land? What is it worth to be free of that tie? Again, apparently not much, given the number of people I know that want to tie themselves to the big wastewater treatment system.

Reverse auctions for stormwater mitigation

Here's a study out of Cincinnati, Ohio where they did a reverse auction to ask people how much they had to be paid to take a rain barrel or rain garden on their property to reduce stormwater runoff in a small watershed. It is a good description of how to do this kind of thing to get people to adopt a new technology/approach, but the report stops short of providing monitoring results (in other words, do these things actually have a measurable effect on runoff in the watershed).

http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600r08129/600r08129.htm

Depave in Portland

Portland made the national EPA publication, NPS News-Notes:

EPA’s Nonpoint Source News-Notes, Issue #90 (June 2010)

NPS News-Notes Issue #90 is now online at www.epa.gov/newsnotes/pdf/90issue.pdf. The newsletter’s cover page includes links to each section, article and announcement listed below. For previous issues of News-Notes, see www.epa.gov/newsnotes.

(8) Over-paved? Group Reduces Impervious Surfaces in Portland

In Portland, Oregon, a volunteer group is leading an effort to remove unnecessary asphalt and concrete areas and replace them with gardens and natural areas. “Depaving” contributes to Portland’s ongoing efforts to manage stormwater runoff by reducing impervious surfaces and creating more vegetated areas that absorb rainfall and intercept surface runoff. Launched in 2007, Depave (www.depave.org) has quickly gained momentum throughout Portland—expanding from one major event in 2008 to six in
2009…"

Video on Building Green: A Success Story in Philadelphia

Video on Building Green: A Success Story in Philadelphia

EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (OWOW) announced the availability of a new 11-minute video, "Building Green: A Success Story in Philadelphia," which highlights innovative efforts by green builders in Philadelphia who are helping protect and restore environmental quality and beautify the city. By installing cisterns, green roofs, porous pavers, solar panels, and Energy Star appliances, the builders are capturing rainwater, reducing stormwater runoff, and saving energy.

In the video, Howard Neukrug, Director of Philadelphia’s Office of Watersheds, explains the importance of green stormwater infrastructure. The city is now offering incentives to builders and developers to use
green techniques to help meet clean water and other environmental goals.


The video is available on-line at www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/video.html. A high resolution Digital Betacam version is also available upon request. For more information, contact Patty Scott at scott.patricia@epa.gov.


Whatever the heck high resolution Digital Betacam is - I guess this old fogey better visit Wikipedia or something.

Non Point Source Pollution and Stream Health in Urban Areas

New USGS study examines effects of urban development on stream ecosystem health in 9 metropolitan areas across the U.S.

A new USGS study examines effects of urban development on stream ecosystem health. Findings show that aquatic insect communities demonstrate little, if any, initial resistance to low levels of urban
development that were previously thought to be protective of aquatic life. By the time a watershed reaches about 10 percent impervious cover in urban areas, aquatic insect communities are degraded by as much as 33 percent in comparison to aquatic insect communities in forested watersheds.

Comparisons among the nine metropolitan areas show that not all urban streams respond in a similar way. Land cover prior to urbanization can affect how aquatic insects and fish respond to urban development and is important to consider in setting realistic stream restoration goals in urban areas.

The USGS determined the magnitude and pattern of the physical, chemical, and biological response of streams to increasing urbanization and how these responses vary throughout nine metropolitan areas, including Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; Raleigh, NC; Boston, MA; Denver, CO; Dallas, TX; and Milwaukee, WI.

For more information, including access to USGS reports and video podcasts, please visit http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/urban/

Greenwalls

Thanks to Rainbow Todd for this info:

I am intrigued by the concept but admit that I found the blog site referenced annoying in that it only talked briefly about the potential environmental benefits of such an installation, the sum total that I found was:

"... located at the Vancouver International (YVR) Airport’s SkyTrain station.  The first Canadian airport to install a greenwall, international visitors to this beautiful city are greeted by the living tapestry, just one of the sustainable initiatives and ecological solutions for the airport.  Since YVR is situated within the estuary of the Fraser River on Sea Island, a large conservation project was created here to offset the environmental impact the airport causes, including a wildlife preserve and public beaches."

The blogger tended to go about the architectural aesthetic so interested persons will have to look elsewhere for substantive information.  I wonder if this gets rainwater, greywater...?

Help Oregon Develop an Integrated Water Resources Strategy

Just a reminder that OWRD's Spring 2010 open houses are coming up!

Four state agencies have been given responsibility for developing an integrated water resources strategy for Oregon by 2012, with 5‐year updates thereafter. This spring, these agencies, along with commissioners and local partners, will host a series of evening open houses throughout Oregon
communities, serving three purposes:

 
1. To ensure that participants receive information about the statewide strategy, the project timeline, and the many opportunities to participate.

2. To gather input from community members, in terms of water resource challenges, opportunities, and recommended actions.

3. To highlight successful, local examples of water resource solutions currently underway in Oregon communities.

Various stations will allow participants to engage in individual conversations and facilitated discussions, listen to presentations, and to ask questions about current issues and local projects. A “kid’s center” will allow younger attendees to participate in water‐related activities.

More info at:

http://www1.wrd.state.or.us/pdfs/2_12_10_Briefer.pdf

Daily Score Blog — Sightline Daily - Northwest News that Matters

Daily Score Blog — Sightline Daily - Northwest News that Matters

Washington takes the lead in getting copper out of brakes!