Show #33/4107. Innovative Rainwater Management Techniques

Slow Storm Water Early

In this show we've seen 3 different sites, some on a large scale, some on a small scale but all seem to work efficiently. Mary reports that it is easier to tackle these interventions when they are smaller. If they had waited, for example, to treat all the water at the Meadow Creek watershed at the Arena site, it would have been almost impossible to design anything that created a place for people to enjoy themselves, something that was attractive, a garden like setting. At best it would have been a large engineered structure. She believes the capacity to think on a very micro-intervention scale instead of on a big institutional scale is important to us all. It's a problem we must all address. As water comes off our own roofs, in our gardens, across our driveways, it's something that we can take care of on a small scale. And, that micro-scale, that micro-approach provides a lot of ancillary benefits, like more wildlife. Here they have seen an increase in the diversity and number of species that enjoy these spaces. And importantly it provides wonderful park-like settings for students and members of the community. The people love the spaces that have been created.