Summer, when people tend to spend a lot of time outdoors, is
a good time to try to make them aware of stormwater management activities.
(Flood season, whenever it occurs, is an even better time, but with a somewhat
different emphasis.)
Beginning in June, a beachside
parking lot in East Lyme, Connecticut, will feature what the city is calling its
Outdoor Environmental Classroom. Half of the parking lot at Hole in the
Wall Beach now has pervious pavement, while the conventionally paved half
produces “a torrent” of runoff during a storm. The runoff will be monitored in
real time to let kids, and adults for that matter, see what happens as it passes
through several BMPs before reaching Long Island Sound. Signs will explain
what’s happening, and information will also be uploaded to a Web site. The town
engineer, Bill Scheer, acknowledges that it’s an attempt to also educate the
adults by first getting the kids enthusiastic about stormwater treatment.
Several cities have similar
demonstration or educational sites. One of the biggest and most ambitious is the
Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility, or SMURRF, which treats primarily dry-weather urban runoff before it reaches California’s
Santa Monica Bay. The unusual and eye-catching structure has an elevated walkway
that allows visitors to watch the water-treatment process. The whole treatment
facility was designed with education as one of its goals, including the
placement and orientation of the treatment equipment for easy viewing, rather
than accommodating viewers as an afterthought. It’s been successful in
attracting visitors.
Does your area have an easily accessible site to demonstrate the ins and
outs of stormwater? If so, how was it funded? The East Lyme facility, in
addition to state and federal money, received equipment donations from the
companies whose products are featured there.