Water’s importance ‘is increasingly on the public’s mind’

Picture of child drinking glass of water 2This month’s breakfast presentation by the Environmental Professionals Network, which includes an optional joint meeting with the Water Management Association of Ohio, will feature three major initiatives aimed at protecting and improving water quality. Continue reading

Interview with the rain garden: ‘I do more than just hold water’

rai ngarden videoIt’s likely that a rain garden has never been interviewed on camera before. Until now. A student team from CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering won a competition last spring for their video about rain gardens — what they are, how they work, how they help our water quality. Details and a link to the video here. It’s clearly explained, science-based, fun and funny. Think Bill Nye the Science Guy. The late Steve Irwin. A subtle note of Pee-wee Herman’s Magic Screen. Two thumbs up. The competition took place at the annual meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. 

Eat, network, get a free water-saving showerhead

image of person in showerRegister by Friday (1/4) by check or by Saturday (1/5) by credit card for the next 2nd Tuesdays Breakfast Club, which is Jan. 8. The topic is “Green infrastructure: Realizing the potential to improve our environment and reduce infrastructure costs through effective stormwater programs.” It features a panel of experts and leaders. A bonus: Attend and get a free Delta water-saving showerhead courtesy of co-sponsor Unilever and its Axe brand. The program is part of an ongoing series hosted by the Environmental Professionals Network.

 

EcoSummit preview: Take me to the river … but first filter and retain me in a rain garden

Two talks at EcoSummit 2012 will shine a light on rain gardens. Jay Martin, Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering, et al, will present “Restoring Water Storage and Purification with Rain Gardens.” And B. Li of China’s X’ian University of Architecture and Technology, Martin, and colleagues will present “Nutrient Retention in Residential Retrofitted Rain Gardens.”

Both are part of session 1 of the symposium titled “Ecological Engineering: Designing and Restoring Ecosystem Services,” Oct. 4, 10:15 a.m.-12:35 p.m.

Among their benefits, rain gardens take out contaminants from stormwater runoff and slow down and limit that runoff, which leads to cleaner, healthier streams.

First, eat the pickles …

Build your own rain barrel and you’ll get free water for your plants. And you’ll cut down on stormwater runoff, too much of which causes flooding, erosion, and water pollution. Learn more — how to set one up, blend it in, and use it — in this talk by experts at Farm Science Review (pdf; go under “Water Presentations”). Fun fact from the city of Bremerton, Wash., which gets its fair share of the wet stuff: A rainfall of only about a third of an inch, on a typical house, will fill up a typical rain barrel.