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Settlers exclaimed in their diaries about oysters a foot long, fish so plentiful you could scoop them up in a basket, forests full of game, wild grapes and nuts. It has taken us only 300 years to destroy that bounty. Fish have PCB’s, mercury, tumors, bacterial sores and there are eating advisories… Impervious surface dominates the landscape now. Stormwater from rooftops, driveways and roads has been piped into the nearest waterway, emptying sometimes adjacent to a childrens’ swimming area. Roads carry up to 70 potential carcinogens from cars – oil, gas, tires, brake linings, cadmium, copper, magnesium, lead….some of the most toxic chemicals made. The result is flooding of roads and properties and creeks that have no water except when pipes force huge volumes of water into their narrow channels, eroding their banks and felling mature trees. We can each play a critical role to reduce this problem, just as the Church has done with the raingarden which cools and cleans the pollutants from the parking lot, letting the water seep into the ground and making a place for us all to celebrate the rain and its part in our lives. Some of the things we can do in our own homes…reduce lawn, grow wildflowers, mow a path or area to walk or play games or picnic, even a small lawn can host wildflowers for endangered pollinators. Porous pavers and grass-crete can be used in parking lots and driveways to infiltrate rain. Rainbarrels connected to roof downspouts, with hose attached form a reservoir and with a flexible pipe at the top dug into the ground, can use the overflow to water a flower or vegetable bed. Available at $50 from Arlington Echo’s website. AND RAINGARDENS!! Let me answer your questions and tell me what you are thinking and doing!
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Before European settlement, the Chesapeake Bay watershed had been inhabited by Native Americans for 10,000 years. The Bay was healthy then, its watershed 95% forested. Rain was absorbed by the forest canopy, limbs, bark, leaves, roots and the centuries old leaf mulch. Rain flowed into aquifers from which we draw drinking water and into creeks at a slow and steady rate even in times of drought. The forest canopy also evaporated rain into the air continuing the water cycle.