The City of Lancaster hosted our first Adopt-A-Rain Garden event Saturday morning, October 25 at Brandon Park with volunteers from the Junior League of Lancaster. For more information about how you can get involved contact us here.
SaveIt! Events
Demonstration Stormwater Planters
A Stormwater Planter is typically a wooden planter that captures, filters, and temporarily stores runoff diverted from a downspout. Some of the captured runoff is removed by plants and the remaining water is filtered through soil media and stored at the planter’s base.
Many residences in the city have downspouts tied directly into the City’s combined storm / sewer system and therefore contribute to combined sewer overflows that pollute our local waterways. Retrofitting residences with Stormwater Planters can reduce local flooding and protect water quality by capturing, treating and storing runoff before it leaves the property. They also provide low maintenance aesthetically-pleasing “green space” in urbanized areas.
Economic Benefits of Cleaning up the Chesapeake
BREAKING: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation just released a comprehensive report–the first of its kind!–on the economic benefits of cleaning up our Bay and its rivers and streams. Read on. The numbers are staggering!
Green Infrastructure Garden Tour
Green Infrastructure Garden Tour at the Wolf Museum
Wednesday September 17; 5:00-7:00pm
Join us in the garden for light refreshments and live music
The Lancaster County Conservancy in partnership with the Wolf Museum are hosting a green infrastructure garden tour of the recently completed residential demonstration project located in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Lancaster City.
-In the spring Conservancy staff and volunteers from the Wolf Museum and neighborhood spent two days transforming a portion of the native plant garden to include a rain garden and dry creek.
-These two landscape features, along with rain barrels will help capture over 40,000 gallons annually keeping the stormwater flow from the City’s combined sewer system.
-The open house will feature a garden tour by local plant and green infrastructure experts. Learn about the green infrastructure planning process and how you can duplicate this on your own property.
-Light refreshments (food, beer, and wine). Plus live music in the garden
Green Infrastructure Garden Tour at the Wolf Museum
423 W Chestnut Street (corner of Lancaster Ave and W Chestnut St.)
Wednesday September 17; 5-7pm
Suggested donation of $10; everyone is welcome
To register click here
(Rain date is September 18th)
Public Art Takes Center Stage
Public art takes center stage at Rodney and Crystal Park’s. In addition to numerous stormwater enhancements at both parks public art has been incorporated helping to make each park experience unique. Crystal Park includes a cistern pump which indicates how much water was recently collected during a rain event. To learn more about City wide park projects click here.
Rodney Park includes arches which are meant to be interactive for all local visitors. The image was taken as they were being installed in May 2014.
City Passes Stormwater Fee
Lancaster city property owners will begin paying a stormwater management fee this spring to cover costs of dealing with the city’s overflow pollution problem. Owners of a smaller city row house will be assessed a fee of $4 per quarter, while owners of a larger home face a fee of $12 per quarter. To view the entire article at LancasterOnline click here.
To view more about the costs of dealing with stormwater click here.
For all details associated with the implementation of the fee please visit the City’s website. www.cityoflancasterpa.com/government/stormwater
Bioretention / tree trench under construction at the Plum Street Parking lot. Fact sheets on this and other technologies can be found here.
Brandon Park construction nears completion
Brandon Park is situated in the valley of a former creek where a combined sewer was constructed during the early 1900’s in the former stream bed that flows into Water Street. The valley is a very good location to capture stormwater runoff from the impervious features in the park as well as the adjacent upland areas from Wabank Road. For additional images and information about construction at Brandon Park click here.
