Princeton Point Condominiums, Kingston
The grounds committee of the Princeton Point Condominiums asked us to convert a 60-foot long rocky swale in front of their building into a rain garden. To accommodate the slope and slow down the water, we constructed four stepped rain gardens separated by concrete weirs. The swale rocks were re-purposed near the weirs, to enhance infiltration and further prevent erosion. Fifteen cubic yards of rain garden soil and 270 plants were added to help filter toxins and impurities coming from the parking runoff. Year completed: 2017
Harbor Place Condominiums, Kingston
KCD converted two existing stormwater swales into rain gardens by removing grass, sediment and weeds from the swales, and replacing them with 18 cubic yards of rain garden soil and 322 native plants. The rain gardens treat approximately 612,000 gallons of runoff from two of the surrounding buildings, carports and paved parking areas. Year completed: 2018
Girl Scouts Bremerton
To capture and infiltrate runoff from the building and surrounding parking, KCD built three rain gardens, replaced some of the parking area with permeable paving grid and installed a cistern. The cistern provides 865 gallons of harvested rainwater to irrigate the new rain gardens and surrounding landscape. Combined, the rain gardens and permeable paving intercept and filter approximately 214,000 gallons of rainwater per year, diverting it from the stormwater system and allowing it to infiltrate into the ground. Year completed: 2018
Churches, Businesses & Nonprofit
These properties tend to have large parking lots and roof areas that contribute a lot of runoff to stormwater systems. Rain gardens, permeable pavement and cisterns can be an ideal solution to provide a working landscape that helps the environment.
Brookwood Lane: Kitsap's first 'Green Street'
Kitsap County, the Conservation District, and the homeowners in this neighborhood collaborated to install ten street-side rain gardens. The first rain garden on the street is marked with an educational sign. By building several rain gardens in one neighborhood, we can achieve the most 'bang for our buck' because it minimizes travel time & distance for the excavation equipment and our crew. It also provides a great opportunity for community building by bringing neighbors and friends out to work towards - one that offers to make their street both more beautiful and more environmentally responsible. Everyone in the neighborhood has the opportunity to learn about the negative impact when rain mixes with the heavy metals, chemicals, and other toxins on our roads, and then flows into local waterways. They also have the chance to help build a solution.
If you think your street or neighborhood should be our county's second Green Street, call us at (360) 204-5529 or email m-korch@kitsapcd.org
LID Installations at Kitsap Fairgrounds
The Kitsap Fairgrounds is home to a number of LID solutions. Along with the two rain gardens at President's Hall (above), there is a third rain garden filtering water runoff by the Fairgrounds' manure storage site (below).
There is also a large stormwater— or bioretention—pond and a section of permeable pavement (below). These installations are marked with educational signs so that the public can learn about the benefits of LID tools.
School Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are an excellent example of conservation projects that are both functional and educational. We have worked with many schools as the program developed over the past years, and continue to do so. These projects are some of the highlights of our program because of the opportunity to teach young people about water pollution and conservation while showing them how to reduce their community's impact on the surrounding ecosystems.
