Slow the flow, a system to withstand the ever-increasing influx of rain

Suppose you have ever noticed the pond at March's Hill or Federal and Water St intersection after a significant rain event. In that case, as we have in the Hillside offices, you may have thought to yourself, "Wow, that water is coming fast, and this space just can't handle it." With the ever-increasing frequency of these rain events in the future, we are working deliberately to design a system that will be able to withstand the influx of rain with ease.  

One of the pieces to this puzzle is the Stormwater Drainage System. The goal of this system is to manage how the water leaves the site, and due to its borders, there is only one outlet. This outlet drains water to a basin that leads water under Route One. The key to success is to slow the flow! Our first row of defense is the landscape designed with permaculture techniques and earthworks that spread water to percolate down rather than flow fast on the surface evenly. Our next defense is our stormwater cisterns that hold water and slowly release it. There is one smaller tank at the end of Cottage Court and another larger one under the solar parking lot. These tanks are designed to catch and hold groundwater - not to be confused with our rainwater catchment cistern that will hold water from impervious surfaces (roofs) and be used as greywater to flush toilets! 

The image below shows Doug standing in the Cottage Court stormwater cistern. This tank holds over 1,500 cubic feet of water!

a connection being laid between stormwater management cisterns

the first sewer connection for Cottage Court 

The crew looking into the groundwater retention tank that will be used for backup irrigation when our rainwater cisterns are low.

Stormwater tank under the future solar parking lot.