116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Flood prevention - what you can do
The Indian Creek Nature Center and ECO Iowa City are offering several ways in the coming weeks to help area residents get involved in flood prevention on an individual level. An article describing those efforts – rain gardens, rain barrels and more - is in the Sunday, March 28, 2010, edition of The Gazette.
Here are other resources if you want to find out more about what you can do as an individual:
http://www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox/other/cwc_raingardenbrochure.pdf
Iowa Storm Water Education Program: www.iowastormwater.org/
Natural Resources Conservation Service: www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov/features/raingardens.html
http://thegazette.com/blogs/homegrown/2009/06/14/a-look-at-rain-gardens
This is the article that ran in the March 28 edition of The Gazette:
Stemming the TIDE
Homeowners can help prevent flooding; advocates say small steps add up
By Cindy Hadish
The Gazette
Sue Kramer saw the interest in rain gardens jump after the Floods of 2008.
Kramer, a landscape architect, is based in Cedar Rapids, the epicenter of Iowa's historic disaster.
After the flood, Iowans wanted to know what they could do on an individual basis to help, says Kramer of Kramer's Flower Farm.
One method she suggests: Establishing a rain garden can keep rainfall from rushing into the storm water system to help prevent flooding.
"If everyone did that, it could make a huge difference," she says.
Following are some of the ways homeowners can address flooding on an individual level:
1) Use a rain barrel
By placing rain barrels under downspouts, homeowners capture runoff and use it for plants and gardens when the soil is able to absorb the water, says Don Johnson, a board member of the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids.
The center is selling rain barrels as part of its Million Gallon Challenge with the mantra that “every gallon counts.” ECO Iowa City also is planning a sale and both groups are offering workshops on making rain barrels.
Barrels can keep rainwater from entering basements or the storm water system and save homeowners money on water for their plants.
2) Plant a rain garden
Rain gardens are planted in shallow depressions between 4 and 8 inches deep to soak up rainwater and capture water from roofs or driveways.
Native plants with deep root systems are typically used in rain gardens to help absorb the water, but daylillies and other perennials also can be planted.
Rain gardens act as a filter to remove pollutants carried in runoff, such as pesticides from yards. Ideally, rainwater is fully absorbed into the bed within 12 to 24 hours after a heavy rainfall.
Clay soil isn't conducive to rain gardens, so soil amendment is needed in some cases to allow water to properly absorb. If the soil is too heavy, a rain garden might not be practical.
3) Install permeable paving
Typically, rainfall rushes off driveways and parking lots into storm sewers and on to streams and rivers. Permeable paving can be used for walkways, parking lots and other areas to allow water to percolate into the soil.
Several materials are available.
One example, using a rock base, plastic lattice and grass, was installed last year at the Indian Creek Nature Center.
Water soaks through the grass and openings in the plastic and into the rock, where it is held until it dissipates into the ground.
4) Redirect downspouts
Simply directing gutter downspout water to a lawn or other vegetated surface instead of pavement helps prevent rainfall from rushing to the storm water system.
5) Change your relationship with your lawn
Letting your lawn grow taller enables grass to send roots deeper, allowing water to be absorbed more readily than on turf that is mowed low.
Kramer advises aerating lawns and raking topsoil into lawns that are heavily compacted.
Both practices allow water to penetrate deeper.
6) Plant native wildflowers
Replace lawns with prairie or woodland plants that have deep root systems, which increase the soil's ability to absorb water.
Try purple coneflower and swamp milkweed and grasses like big bluestem and Indian grass.
The 'Moby' rain barrel being sold by the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids. (Photo from Rain Water Solutions)
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