A number of Curbside gardens have popped up surrounding other green infrastructure projects throughout Lancaster City.  They often extend from the curb or intersection, serving to both capture stormwater, while also slowing traffic and making these areas safer for pedestrians.

Lancaster is one of many City’s undertaking such projects.  Here is an article recently published in the New York Times New York Plants Curbside Gardens to Soak Up Storm-Water Runoff – NYTimes com.

Examples from the City of Lancaster:
      

 Other examples can be found here

Impact of water drops on the surface of granular particles

Abstract: When a granular material is impacted by a sphere, its surface deforms like a liquid yet it preserves a circular crater like a solid. Although the mechanism of granular impact cratering by solid spheres is well understood, our knowledge on granular impact cratering by liquid drops is still very limited. Using high-speed photography, we investigate liquid-drop impact dynamics on granular media. Surprisingly, we find that granular impact cratering by liquid drops follows the same energy scaling as that of asteroid impact cratering. Inspired by this similarity, we develop a simple model that quantitatively describes the observed crater morphologies. Our study sheds light on the mechanisms governing raindrop impacts on granular surfaces and reveals an interesting analogy between familiar phenomena of raining and catastrophic asteroid strikes.

journal article: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1407/1407.7420.pdf

2014 updates to Tree Planting in the City of Lancaster…Everything you ever wanted to know about trees and a whole lot more…

Most City homes boarder an alley way and a majority of those are Common Alleys where each property owner shares ownership and responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance.  It’s with this in mind that the City has piloted a project to work with property owners to help with upgrades to their alleys while also increasing capacity to capture stormwater.  The Brewery Alley is located along E Walnut Street.  Construction was completed in the fall of 2014 and it is estimated that the alley will capture nearly 150,000 gallons annually.

To learn more about similar projects click here.
For more information on green streets and alleys click here (PDF).

Several local property owners, including the property that houses The Fridge (pictured below) and Mulberry Art Studios are improving their parking lots with enhancements that include stormwater capture off of the paved surface and surrounding buildings into large infiltration beds (underneath the parking areas) that are engineered to capture and slowly infiltrate water.  Additional enhancements at The Fridge include trees to beautify the area and reduce heat island effect.
  

The diverter in the image below will capture rain water from the Arts Hotel further reducing run-off from neighboring properties.  To learn about other commercial installations click here.

Through the Upstream/Downstream program led by the Lancaster County Conservancy two middle school classes (Martic Middle School in Manor Township and Wheatland Middle School in the School District of Lancaster) spent a half day touring green infrastructure projects in Lancaster City during the spring of 2014.  Pictured above are Wheatland students journaling on the green roof at Tellus 360.  Below are students from Martic Middle School at the Wolf Museum Residential Demonstration project.

The green infrastructure tour was one component of the program that involved in school education along with a full day stream study at Climbers Run Nature Preserve and a full day on the bay with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

By seeing the downstream impact of stormwater and other pollution firsthand, the students gained a more tangible understanding of their own actions upstream as well as the purpose of Lancaster’s green infrastructure plan.

For more information on how your school can tour green infrastructure in the City of Lancaster please contact Fritz Schroeder with the Lancaster County Conservancy.

Hosted by the Chesapeake Stormwater Network, the Best Urban BMP in the Bay Awards (BUBBAs) recognizes the best urban stormwater management practices (techniques, measures or structural controls used to manage the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff) that have been installed in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The reconstruction of the intersection at Plum and Walnut Streets was nominated for the BUBBA as an Ultra-urban BMP. Ultra-urban BMPs are stormwater practices built in infill or redevelopment projects in urban areas with more than 75% site impervious cover.

To put it simply, the old intersection was dangerous and uninspiring. Now, the same intersection is safer, with a 5 MPH reduction in average traffic speed, and features rain gardens, a new porous patio for the Lancaster Brewing Company, and a multi-tasking public art project. Best of all, this entire project manages 1.7 million gallons annually and keeps it out of the city’s over burdened combined sewer system.

All of the new elements of the intersection keep excess stormwater from reaching the sewer system. The rain gardens are full of native shrubs, perennials, ornamental grasses and new tree species, and the patio is made of permeable pavers. These components allow stormwater, which would otherwise flow into the Conestoga River and all the way to the Chesapeake Bay, to soak into the ground and be treated by the natural filtration and microbial action within the soils below the area. The public art installation, the Lancaster Gateway Bundle, includes a 700 gallon cistern that collects stormwater runoff from the roof of the Lancaster Brewing Company. This cistern serves both as public art and as irrigation for planters where the brewery grows some of their own produce.

After the project was named Best Ultra-Urban BMP, it went up against projects that placed first place in other categories, like Best Innovative BMP and Best Homeowner BMP. Online voting took place to name the “ultimate” first place winner, and 1851 votes were cast. The reconstruction of the intersection of Plum and Walnut Streets received over 800 of those votes, making the City of Lancaster the grand prize winner of $5,000!

Residential Demonstration

The Lancaster County Conservancy worked with the Wolf Museum, adjacent property owners, and neighborhood volunteers to develop multiple methods of addressing storm water runoff including the installation of rain barrels, rain garden, and dry creek to minimize the amount of runoff coming from and onto the Wolf Museum property.

For images and details click here

The Economic Benefits of Green Infrastructure: A Case Study of Lancaster, PA

This case study estimates the value of several of the co-benefits of Lancaster’s Green Infrastructure Plan. The case study highlights the importance of including the multiple benefits of green infrastructure in cost-benefit assessments, as well as the importance of adding green infrastructure into planned improvement projects.