Stormwater Management Trending with Rain Barrels/Gardens
New construction in our community means economic stability. However, with more people, buildings and parking lots, the watershed is overwhelmed with stormwater. Fortunately, the new trend of containing stormwater gives Mother Nature much-needed relief. The desire and ability to collect rainwater for future use slows down the emergence of flow into the local watershed.
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Rain barrels have been popular for almost a decade now. Gutter systems on homes are connected to a barrel for later use. However, the trend will begin morphing in the near future as homeowners want an effective system for using their harvested rain and commercial property seeks ways to use harvested rain on a larger scale.
Today, rain barrels can be connected to rain gardens or bioretention gardens. Rain gardens are specfically engineered and constructed to absorb and filter water through healthy plant growth. Using plant growth as filtration provides a more natural and attractive means of managing stormwater systems. Generally, a rain garden is installed to add a beautiful flower garden to the property. However, rain gardens can be used to camouflage the stormwater system, giving the property a more natural look and feel rather than a large, fenced-in, overgrown area.
Similar to rain gardens are rainwater irrigation systems. Rain barrels connect to an irrigation system. The irrigation systems uses the harvested rainwater, then uses city water as needed. Rainwater irrigation systems are a solution that also reduces water bills and allows rainwater to be absorbed through the lawn.
Temporary containers are now being used in larger constructions. Large containers are being placed on properties to hold water rather than letting it overwhelm the watershed. This is a popular solution in large parking lots as durable structures sit underneath the parking lot itself. In new construction, this has become the way to go. Developments now require less space and the over bearance of water off of impermeable pavement into the watershed is stopped. Generally, these containers have filters to absorb pollutants. The maintenance requires a stormewater management company to change the filters and pump the containers on a regular basis.