Celebrating North Delta s RAIN GARDENS. (and what is a rain garden anyway?)

Transcription

1 Celebrating North Delta s RAIN GARDENS (and what is a rain garden anyway?)

2 Municipal boulevard adjacent to Cougar Canyon Elementary School parking lot location of North Delta s first school rain garden

3 Student involvement proved to be the magic ingredient that brought extra energy, enthusiasm and community ownership to North Delta s rain gardens Cougar Canyon Elementary School Rain Garden planting

4 an entire school s worth of student involvement!

5 The garden was a success Cougar Canyon Elementary School Rain Garden at 1 ½ years old

6 and so 20 more gardens followed, all planted by North Delta students

7 Gibson Elementary School Rain Garden

8 Heath Traditional Elementary School Rain Garden

9 Burnsview Secondary School Rain Garden

10 Brooke Elementary School Rain Garden

11 Pinewood Elementary School Rain Garden I planted that one! I can dig it up!

12 Devon Gardens Elementary School Rain Garden

13 Tidewaters Rain Garden

14 Streamkeepers and other adults provided occasional help!

15 Sunshine Hills Elementary School Rain Garden

16 Brooke Elementary School Rain Garden

17 Hellings Elementary School Rain Garden

18 Devon Gardens Elementary School Rain Garden D e v

19 All rain garden plantings are preceded by a rain garden assembly, at which students learn how their efforts will help the environment

20 Mayor Jackson suggested that Delta Council and Staff might enjoy seeing this rain garden assembly presentation, so here it is!

21 What s a rain garden, and why should I care? Here s the story

22 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Not so long ago, most of North Delta was covered with forests, fields and wetlands

23 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Whenever it rained, the landscape would act like a sponge, absorbing vast amounts of rainwater

24 What s a rain garden and why should I care? GROUNDWATER CREEK Groundwater Rainwater not taken up by plants seeped down into nature s free reservoir, the ground

25 What s a rain garden and why should I care? As groundwater made its way slowly through soil, it provided a steady supply of moisture for trees, soil organisms, springs, wetlands, lakes and numerous beautiful & productive creeks

26 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Blake Creek Lower Cougar Creek With such a reliable supply of water, filtered and cooled by plants and soil, our creeks teemed with salmon and other fish

27 and so too did the Fraser River & coastal waters into which our creeks flow OCEAN

28 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Nowadays, there are far fewer fish in North Delta s creeks WHY??

29 What s a rain garden and why should I care? One important reason is that we ve replaced the forests, fields and wetlands with streets, parking lots and buildings that can t soak up rainwater the way open land used to do North Delta: Scott Road

30 What s a rain garden and why should I care? We install storm drains to take away water that these impervious surfaces can t absorb Drains in streets Drains in parking lots Drains from rooftops

31 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Whether marked with a yellow fish or not, all these drains connect to a network of underground pipes that Cougar Creek: Nicholson Outfall empty into a nearby creek or other fish habitat

32 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Piping the water into our creeks wasn t a bad idea when development was sparse, gardens large and road shoulders unpaved or ditched North Delta: 79A Avenue There was still plenty of opportunity for rainwater to be filtered and absorbed

33 What s a rain garden and why should I care? But now our landscape looks like this: Scott 72 Mall Strawberry Hill Mall Scottsdale Mall Cougar Creek a lot fewer trees and a lot more impervious surfaces

34 What s a rain garden and why should I care? And it s getting denser all the time

35 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Piping the voluminous runoff produced by all these impervious surfaces is now causing serious problems

36 What s a rain garden and why should I care? As water flows down the drains (from rainfall, snowmelt, car washing, power washing, garden watering) it carries pollution and litter with it, such as

37 What s a rain garden and why should I care? oil and grease

38 What s a rain garden and why should I care? cigarette butts

39 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? fast food litter

40 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? and plastics

41 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? All that yucky stuff flows along with the water into the underground pipes that empty right into the creeks

42 This polluted water is BAD NEWS for fish and other aquatic life not only in creeks, but also out in the ocean where all creeks and rivers empty

43 What s a rain garden and why should I care? An estimated 80% of plastic garbage in the ocean, and a huge amount of oil pollution too, gets there by going down storm drains

44 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? There are other problems too, caused by all these drains

45 What s a rain garden and why should I care? When it rains, too much water flows too quickly into our creeks North Delta: Cougar Creek at Nicholson Road (left) and Scott Road (right), during steady rains

46 What s a rain garden and why should I care? The torrential flow of stormwater destroys fish habitat, causes erosion that s costly to repair North Delta: Erosion-control project on Cougar Creek beneath Seaquam footbridge

47 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? and poses a flooding hazard in some locations Uh-oh, Cougar Creek is about to overflow the train tracks again! It s a flood! Cougar Creek at Westview Drive

48 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care? But within a few hours, all that rainwater has raced through creeks and out to the ocean It hasn t had a chance to soak into the ground and replenish the groundwater that supplies thirsty creeks and trees when there s no rain for awhile (like last summer)

49 So then, it s a drought! There s too little groundwater to keep our creeks flowing Imagine being a fish trying to live in this warm shallow water

50 What s a rain What s garden a rain and garden why and should why should I care? I care?... and there s too little groundwater to give our thirsty trees a drink Poor tree! He s dying for lack of water!

51 So here s the situation: Lots of impervious paved areas and roofs Produce lots of polluted runoff That flows too fast down drains, through pipes and into creeks, causing Pollution of creeks, rivers and oceans Flashiness of creeks either too much water or too little Waste of precious rainwater that should have soaked into the ground but didn t All these problems are exacerbated by the heavier rains and longer dry spells associated with climate change in our region

52 What s a rain garden and why should I care? How about if we

53 What s a rain garden and why should I care? rearrange things so that every paved area or roof drains into an area full of soil and plants?

54 What s a rain garden and why should I care? That s a rain garden! It s a garden that receives not only the rainwater that falls into it from the sky, but also rainwater runoff that flows into it from a pavement or roof

55 This is a rain garden Garden receives street runoff Vancouver: Tupper Greenway

56 This is a rain garden Garden recieves parking lot runoff Peace Arch Border Crossing: Canada Customs

57 This is a rain garden Garden receives roof runoff North Vancouver: Mountain Equipment Co-op

58 These are rain gardens Burnaby: Watling Street Gardens receive runoff from curb-free street

59 This is a rain garden Garden receives a waterfall of roof runoff South Surrey: Rec Centre

60 Rain gardens act as miniature forests, fields and wetlands What s a rain garden and why should I care? North Delta: Heath Elementary School Rain Garden

61 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Rain gardens filter out pollutants and litter Westview Drive Rain Garden: Plants thrive despite handling lots of polluted runoff from a busy street

62 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Rain gardens prevent or delay rainwater from entering pipes and creeks, thus reducing the risk of flooding, erosion and fish habitat destruction North Delta Secondary School Rain Garden

63 What s a rain garden and why should I care? In a rain garden, only excess water goes down an overflow drain, if the water level in the garden gets too high Gibson Elementary School Rain Garden

64 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Rain gardens soak up rainwater runoff so that it can replenish groundwater supplies, thus reducing summer drought stress to creeks and trees CC Rain Garden Extension

65 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Rain gardens provide mini-parks of natural beauty, habitat and cooling shade Garden North Delta Secondary School Rain

66 What s a rain garden and why should I care? Rain gardens help educate everyone about a simple way to conserve water and green our community Annieville Elementary School Rain Garden

67 Rain garden opportunities Rain garden opportunities abound everywhere: minimalist retrofits Surrey: Roof water diverted onto lawn

68 Rain garden opportunities residential re-development lots North Delta: 115 Street

69 Rain garden opportunities multi-family development sites North Delta: 72 Avenue

70 ditches Rain garden opportunities North Delta: McAdam Road

71 medians & boulevards Rain garden opportunities North Delta: Median on 116 Street at 72 Avenue

72 traffic bulges Rain garden opportunities North Delta: Huff Blvd at Southridge Road

73 parking lots Rain garden opportunities Cloverdale: BC Plant Health Care headquarters

74 parks and other open spaces Rain garden opportunities South Surrey: Spirit Garden stormwater detention pond on 140 Street

75 Rain garden opportunities Our imagination and will are the only limits for re-integrating precious rainwater into our built landscape

76 One-Minute Photo Tour

77 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens COUGAR CANYON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2006)

78 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens CHALMERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2009)

79 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens ANNIEVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2010)

80 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens NORTH DELTA EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH RAIN GARDEN (2010)

81 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens WESTVIEW DRIVE RAIN GARDEN (2010)

82 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens RICHARDSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2011)

83 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens GIBSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2011)

84 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens SEAQUAM SECONDARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2011)

85 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens BURNSVIEW SECONDARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2011)

86 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens HEATH TRADITIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2011)

87 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens DELVIEW SECONDARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2012)

88 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens FRASER FALLS RAIN GARDEN (2012) (underneath Alex Fraser Bridge)

89 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens SUNSHINE HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2012)

90 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens NORTH DELTA SECONDARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2013)

91 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens TIDEWATERS RAIN GARDEN (2013) (adjacent to Alex Fraser Bridge)

92 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens HELLINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2013)

93 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens JARVIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2013)

94 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens SUNGOD RECREATION CENTRE RAIN GARDEN (2014)

95 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens BROOKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2014)

96 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens Just planted: DEVON GARDENS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2015)

97 Photo tour of North Delta s rain gardens Just planted: PINEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAIN GARDEN (2015)

98 WITH THANKS TO DELTA MAYOR & COUNCIL DELTA ENGINEERING DELTA CLIMATE ACTION DELTA URBAN FORESTRY DELTA SCHOOL DISTRICT Additional funds PACIFIC SALMON FOUNDATION NATURE TRUST OF BC BC MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION BC HYDRO & OTHER DONORS Boots on the ground! DELTA ENGINEERING OPERATIONS DSD FACILITIES BRANCH STREAMKEEPERS, OTHER VOLUNTEERS and especially NORTH DELTA STUDENTS

99 Presented by Deborah Jones of Cougar Creek Streamkeepers.ca