Saturday, June 16, 2012

Rainscapes Self-Guided Tour, 9 - 11 AM

Saturday, June 16 from 9 am to 11 am, a self-guided tour of Garrett Park and nearby homes that have taken measures to capture, control and reuse rainwater. Pick up maps at the Post Office or the Nursery School on Saturday morning. If you are interested in doing something similar, stop by Karen Anderson/Bob Reinhardt's home (10706 Kenilworth) between 10:30 and 11 am to speak with Ann English who directs Montgomery County's Rainscapes Rewards program. 

Looks like we are not going to get rain for
the Rain Capture self-guided tour tomorrow Saturday June 16 from 9 to 11 am.
That is good, but you won't get to see plants flowering over the
"lake".

Some things to look for:

•
At our house (10706 Kenilworth), in the driveway, is what
looks like an oversized recycle container. Check it out! It essentially
is the next generation of rainbarrel, an above-ground bioswale that can store
170 gallons of water, equal to about what you would have in a 1" storm
coming off 250 sf of roof! It doesn't just hold water, it has a special
foam material that retains oxygen as well as water, so it can be (and this one
is) planted. The foam technology is called Aqualok--you can see a green
roof tray using the same material in the photo attached.

•
Do you have a wet basement? Be sure to visit Michael
Tardiff's home in Garrett Park Estates on the tour and read his email below:

Karen,

We’re looking forward to it; thanks for organizing!
By the way, our storm water diversion/drywell system is working beautifully –
our basement (which in the past would get wet at the smallest rain) has been
bone dry since we completed the system a few months ago, despite the
thunderstorms of a few weeks ago. Though we are diverting all surface /
rainwater away from the house, our drywell system has been capturing it all, so
at the same time we have reduced the storm water runoff from our property to
virtually zero. We’re looking forward to sharing what we’ve done.
We’ll stop by and say hello after the tour. Michael

Hope to see a good crowd on Saturday! The
County's Rainscapes person will be at our house starting at 10:30 am if you
have questions about that program.

Karen