Rain Garden

[CapitalFishr]

A good article in the Sac Bee... might be a simple as diverting your roof drainage pipe. Every little bit can help our local rivers.


http://www.sacbee.com/livinghere/story/2500049.html

www.raingardens.org

[Darian]

I saw the article. Very cool for the garden. Im thinking about putting in one in my back yard.... 8)

Did you know that there're states (Colorado) where it is illegal to capture rain water :?: :?: According to everything I've read, they feel that rain water run-off from roofs contributes to river/stream flows.... :confused:

[Ned Morris]

Great article. I am glad this is getting some talk on the board. Yes rain gardens can help tremendously in regards to to stormwater runoff. Impervious surfaces such as roofs, paved parking lots, etc...can have a huge impact as well as degrade the quality of stormwater runoff (suspended solids are toxic). Sorry I am blabbing here but I'm a LEED AP and I'm pretty passionate about this stuff. Rain Gradens and Bioswales are a good way to capture stormwater runnoff for commerical buildings and campuses due to their large size. However most homes do well with just xeriscaping or planting with Native and adaptive plants. For everyone out there with a lawn you are not helping the fisheries you love, rip them out and xeriscape and you will be amazed how much your water bill drops! Plus they look really cool too. As for rainwater capture you mention Darian, as crazy as it sounds you are correct. Laws are starting to go into effect in the west because rainwater capture is considered by some local agencies as water that is part of a particular drainage and if a certain municipality has water rights, it is viewed as taking water from that entity. EBMUD is already on this big time. Agree it does not make sense in urban areas as rainwater capture is non-potable and can only be used for graywater applications like irrigation and toilet flushing. Get ready everyone, water wars are coming to the west and you got to fight like hell to save your fisheries as they are threatened big time. Read more at the USGBC.

[Scott V]

troutdog, the architectural office I work for is a LEED accredited office. One of our PM's is LEED accredited and once I have some free time I plan on taking the exam myself to get me LEED certificate. I just wish that the economy was better so I could get some of my clients to step up and be more green, but whenever we can we do as much green as possible.

[Ned Morris]

troutdog, the architectural office I work for is a LEED accredited office. One of our PM's is LEED accredited and once I have some free time I plan on taking the exam myself to get me LEED certificate. I just wish that the economy was better so I could get some of my clients to step up and be more green, but whenever we can we do as much green as possible.

You have to push it nowadays because owners and GC's think it is too expensive when the reality is it's not. The overall material and labor costs from tradtional construction practices to green build is almost the same (average is like 2% more for LEED certified, silver, and gold). Only one that gets expensive on average is Platinum certification. Most of this additional expense are soft costs due to extra documentation and consulting fees. Funny thing is that rents for properties that are LEED certified, especially comercial, go for on average 6% more per square foot because of documented energy savings through building comissioning. Herd mentallity, you just have to change the attitude of all the nail pounders who despise all that is green and convince them it doesn't cost that much more. Won't lie to you, it is a hard test. Almost felt like I was taking the Mechanical PE test with all the calculations but not the same. Give yourself 6 months and remember you cannot take it annymore if you don't have documented proof you have worked on a prior LEED certified project. You will soon learn, Architectural and Consulting firms are not LEED accredited, only individuals can be LEED Accredited Professionals. Buildings get LEED certified. I think what you meant to say is your office is a member of the USGBC and not a LEED Accredited office. Trust me you will pick up these little ticky tack things when you start studying. PM me, I can give you some guidance and study materials for preparing for the test.