Managing the flow of stormwater is a challenge that homes, business and communities have to face, and many options are available. Highland Pond & Stream can work with municipalities, civil engineers and property owners to built rainwater management solutions.
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting involves capturing the water that runs off your roof, and redirecting it to be stored for later use.
Half of all our water usage does not need to be potable: we use it to wash cars, water plants etc.
Many of us live in rural settings using wells for our home water supply. By capturing and storing clean rainwater for outdoor use, we preserve our precious well water for use inside the home.
The Upper Valley gets 45 inches of rainfall per year. If we captured and stored only 3% of the rain that falls on a typical home roof in a year, we would have enough water to run a hosepipe for 10 minutes every day of our growing season.
The simplest rainwater harvesting solution might involve storing 200 gallons of rainwater, with an electric pump to push the water to a spigot.
An upgraded system might have a decorative element such as a fountain, which has the added benefit of continually circulating the water until it is needed.
At the larger end of the rainwater harvesting options, the stored water can be held in a large storage array for use in a fire suppression sprinkler system
Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are areas where water run-off from roofs and driveways have been directed to create an environment for wetland plants and a home for wildlife. In addition to expanding the types of plants that you can grow, water gardens also help prevent erosion and filter the water being returned into nearby streams and rivers.
Rainwater Retention
Many changes have occurred in municipal planning since Hurricane Irene damaged so much of our infrastructure. Our States mandate that new building developments now must install systems that slow down stormwater run off to prevent catastrophic flooding. The concept is nothing new – North Hartland Dam was built in 1961 to reduce flooding of the Connecticut river valley. State and municipal regulations now mandate that we are do this on a small scale, by controlling drainage. This can be done either by retention (building ponds that store stormwater) or by detention (building basins designed to slow the movement of stormwater). Either way, the purpose is to prevent water damage to roads and infrastructure.
Stormwater management need not be ugly rock and concrete structures. Many of the features that homeowners want in ornamental water features can be integrated into stormwater management solutions to create a beautiful landscape.
Another type of water feature that we see in our area is the pond designed to capture water at a home to provide a source of water for firefighting. Why? A fire engine operating all its pumps together can drain its on-board water supply in under 10 minutes. To successfully fight a structural fire, another water supply is needed. Without an on-site pond with a dry hydrant, an army of fire trucks are required to shuttle water from the nearest supply to the site of the fire. Building and maintaining a pond may be a prerequisite to a building permit, may be a home insurance requirement, but will always bring peace of mind.