Project Neutral Transforming Riverdale and The Junction into

Low Impact Neighbourhoods

RiverSides The path to clean water begins in your own

backyard

5 Things You Can Do For the Don (Toronto) 1996-1998

WaterLinks/CommunEAUté (City of Ottawa) 1998-2001

Nine Mile Run RainBarrel Initiative (Pittsburgh) 2003-present

RiverSmart Homes (Washington, D.C.) 2004 - present

RiverSafe Communities

Homeowners’ Guide to Rainfall (www.riversides.org/rainguide)

Municipal Low Salt Diet**

Water In the City Walk**

RiverSafe Carwash Campaign**

RiverSides is the R&D design home of Resilient Rain; our vision and passion to protect rain, where it falls, and the clean rivers that flow from doing so.

Resilient Rain transforms neighbourhood rain barrel programs from discrete, unproductive, and unreliable into a stormwater smart grid for providing effective, reliable and resilient residential LID.

Watersheds and

Stormwater Runoff

Runoff

Very little Runoff

Top Soil

Q

T

2

3

4

1

5

6

7

Hydrograph Summary 2

3

4

1 Existing

Developed, conventional CN, no control.

Developed, conventional CN and control.

Developed, LID-CN, no control.

Developed, LID-CN, same Tc.

Developed, LID-CN, same Tc, same CN with

retention.

Same as with additional detention to

maintain Q.

5

6

7

Pre-development

Peak Runoff

Rate

Where Does a River’s Water Come From?

• Tableland run-off constitutes a majority of a river’s flow. Howard, Ron:

University of Toronto, 1996

• In most urban centres a river’s flow is subjugated to the land form of the street and the pipe.

• This is known as the sewershed.

How do you maintain the ecological integrity (ecosystem

functions) of aquatic systems (streams)?

Chemical

Variables

Flow

Regime

Habitat

Structure

Energy

Sources

Biotic

Factors

Nutrients

Temperature

D.O. pH

Turbidity

Organics Toxics

Disease

Reproduction

Feeding

Predation

Competition

Sunlight

Nutrients

Seasonal Cycles

Organic Matter

1&2 Production

Canopy

Siltation

Gradient

Substrate

Current

Instream Cover

Sinuosity

Width/Depth

Channel Morphology

Soils Stability

Riparian Vegetation

Velocity

Frequency

Runoff

Evaporation

Ground Water

Flow Duration

Rain Intensity

Scale / Spatial / Temporal / Species

Ecosystem

Integrity

Goals / Objectives

• Community Engagement

• Supportive Follow-up

• Reduced Combined Sewer Overflows and Stormwater Runoff

Daddy, What’s A Sewershed?

Urban watersheds consist of a labyrinth of combined (sanitary) and storm sewers.

Tributaries and creeks were buried in combined sewers replacing the watershed with piped flow.

By the 1950s, combined sewers were separated into street sewers and semi-combined (roof downspouts connected).

New developments sometimes connected roof downspouts to storm sewers.

Conventional Development

Bad Drainage Paradigm

Every aspect of a site is designed to get

rid of runoff as quickly as possible -

buildings, lawns, streets, etc.

Soil Modifications

• Clear Vegetation

• Remove Top Soil

• Compaction

• Change Grades

• Modify Drainage

• Destroy Biological Activity

• Destroy Soil Structure / Function

Conventional Drainage

Paradigm

The Problem: Conventional Site Design

Compaction

Cover

Collect

Concentrate

Convey

Centralized

Control

Conventional Pipe and Pond Centralized Control

“Efficiency”

Street

Storage?

Low Impact Development

Conservation

Minimization

Soil Management

Open Drainage

Rain Gardens

Rain Barrels

Pollution

Prevention

LID Development

Disconnected

Decentralized

Distributed

Multi-functional

Multiple Systems

Uniform Distributed Small-scale Controls

Maintaining Natural Hydrology Functions

LID’s distributed

control opportunities

are unlimited when you

think small.

Low Impact Development (LID) Goal

Maintain and/or restore hydrology and water quality in developed watersheds to protect ecosystems, meet regulatory requirements and achieve local water resources protection objectives.

Approach

A sophisticated technological approach to water resources/ecosystem protection/restoration using new management paradigms, innovative lot level control practices and pollution prevention measures.

Strategy

Cumulative benefits of LID principles and practices maintain and/or restore watershed functions in urban neighbourhoods

Five basic steps to LID

1. Conservation

2. Minimization

3. Strategic Timing

4. Integrated Management Practices

5. Pollution Prevention

Urban LID Lot Level Control Opportunities

• Roofs

• Buildings

• Downspouts

• Water Use

• Yards

• Sidewalks

• Streetscapes

• Parking Lots & Structures

• Landscape Areas (trees/vegetation)

• Open space

• Pollution Prevention

Multifunctional

Infrastructure

Evaporate

Infiltrate

Retain

Detain

Filter

Use

LID Volume / Timing / Treatment

Engineer a site using micro-scale techniques to mimic water cycle ecosystem functions / relationships. Creative ways to maintain or restore:

– Storage Volume

• interception, depression, channel

– Infiltration Volume

– Evaporation Volume

– Runoff Volume

– Flow Paths / Timing / Frequency

– Treatment with Soil / Plant Complex • Biological / Physical / Chemical (soils)

LID Suburban Development Approach

Conservation

Minimization

Timing

DIMP’s

Pollution Prevention

1. Conservation Plans / Regulations

• Local Watershed and Conservation Plans – Forest (Contiguous and Interior Habitat)

– Streams (Corridors)

– Wetlands

– Habitats

– Step Slopes

– Buffers

– Critical Areas

– Parks

– Scenic Areas

– Trails

– Shorelines

– Difficult Soils

– Ag Lands

– Minerals

Conservation Design GoalsConservation Design Goals

•• MarketabilityMarketability

•• Quality of LifeQuality of Life

•• Maintain Same unit yieldMaintain Same unit yield

•• Protect Natural Resources (50%)Protect Natural Resources (50%)

•• Interconnected Network of Open SpaceInterconnected Network of Open Space

•• Cluster Reduce Infrastructure CostsCluster Reduce Infrastructure Costs

•• Sense of Place with Nature as a PartSense of Place with Nature as a Part

•• Development of a Land EthicDevelopment of a Land Ethic

•• Conventional Stormwater ManagementConventional Stormwater Management

2. Minimize Impacts

• Minimize clearing

• Minimize grading

• Save A and B soils

• Limit lot disturbance

• Soil Amendments

• Alternative Surfaces

• Reforestation

• Disconnect

• Reduce pipes, curb and gutters

Better Site Design GoalsConsensus Recommendations

• Reduce Impervious Surfaces

• Conserve Natural Resources

• Reduce Stormwater Impacts

• Compact Development

• New Development

• Quality of Life

• Conventional Stormwater Management

3. Maintain Time of Concentration

• Open Drainage

• Use green space

• Flatten slopes

• Disperse drainage

• Lengthen flow paths

• Vegetative swales

• Save headwater areas

• Maximize sheet flow

• Maintain natural flow paths

• Increase distance from streams

4. Storage, Detention & Filtration • Uniform Distribution at the Source – Lot Level Storage

– Open drainage swales

– Rain gardens / bioretention

– Smaller pipes and culverts

– Permeable Paving

– Small inlets

– Depression storage

– Infiltration

– Rooftop storage

– Pipe storage

– Street storage

– Rain water Use

– Soil management**

LID

Development

Structural

BMPs

5. Pollution Prevention

• Maintenance

• Proper use, handling and disposal

– Individuals Lawn / car / hazardous wastes / reporting / recycling

– Industry Good house keeping/proper disposal/reuse/ spills

– Business Alternative products / Product liability

80 % Reduction in N&P

Kettering Demonstration

Project

Using Rain Barrels to Manage

Residential Storm Water

Curb

Street

Storm Drain

High Rate

Biofilter

Side Walk

Tree

Inlet

Tree Box Filter

LID Residential

Techniques

Multi-functional

Swales Rain

Gardens

Tree Conservation

Rain Barrels

Amended

Soils

Ecosystem

Based

Design

• Rain barrels ‘work’ day in and day out to catch rain before it runs into the storm drains

• Connected to your downspout, rain barrels collect rain water whenever it rains

• When it isn’t raining, rain water stays in the barrels waiting to be used on your garden and lawn

Rain Barrels

• RiverSafe Rain Barrels are secure and safe

• One piece design, UV-stabilized Low Density Polyethylene

• No warping, fading or cracks, covered and impenetrable to animals, insects and mosquitoes

The RiverSafe Rain Barrel

2 Stage Filtration System:

• Stage 1: retains leaves, twigs and roofing materials

• Stage 2: 200 micron mesh makes each rain barrel mosquito safe, and filters out sediments and fine particles

Downspout

Disconnects /

RainHarvestig

Runoff Capture

Piped

Consumption

Reduction

Limit Stormwater

Fees

Total Water Management Rain

Barrels

Rain

Gardens

Seeing It All From A Lot Level Perspective

Cities are made up of individual lots and stormwater begins where rain falls… so does the solution.

If it reaches the street grate, you’ve lost more than half of the opportunity to make a difference…

Lot level source control utilizes a combination of practical technology, natural systems, and pollution prevention.

Whether we refer to the process as Smart Growth or Low Impact Development, the result is to re-establish the pre-development hydrologic regime.

We accomplish this by recognizing the factors that we have to deal with, and what we can accomplish to prevent CSOs and stormwater flows.

Lot Level Methods for Stormwater and CSO Attenuation

•Rain Barrels

•Downspout Disconnections

•Rain Gardens and Swales

•Driveway Grates

•Street and Yard Trees

•Naturalization/Re-grading

•Permeable Pavers

•Soakaway Pits

•Rooftop Gardens

Riverdale and Junction Neighbourhoods

Semi-Combined Sewer System – City of Toronto

Downspout Disconnection

How Much Water Does A Rain Barrel Store?

The Canadian Calculation

• A 500 litre RiverSafe RainBarrel stores 18.87m3/home with a 50m2 average roof size in an average year.

The US Calculation – Rainfall density x Roof Area per downspout = Volume

– Measurement • ¼” Rain x 350 sq./ ft. (average roof area per downspout) = cubic feet of volume

What Do I Look For…

In A Rain Barrel?

• West Nile Virus (Mosquito) Proof

• Children Proof (Enclosed)

• Freeze –Thaw Tested and Winter Capable

• Large Enough – Size Does Matter

• Ease Of Installation and Maintenance

• Social Marketing Follow-up Service

Potential Problems?

• Lack of Permeability

• Grade of Property to Structure

• Tree Roots

• Price Equity/Accessibility

• Neighbours’ Inadequate Understanding

Solutions!

• Partnerships: Municipalities, community members, local organizations

• Good Communications Materials

• A Great Logo

Community Partnerships for Clean Water

Building Partnerships with Your Municipality

• Why Should They Work With You?

• What Role Can You Contribute?

Social Marketing Your Project

• Focus on Action over Education

• Get A Written or Verbal Commitment

• Focus on ease of implementation

• Offer Reinforcements – Incentives

– Follow-up

– Education

• Ask For Greater Commitment As the Project Progresses