McCandless Receives $25K Rain Garden from Audubon Society

McCandless’ Town Council accepted a proposal from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania for the installation of a $25,000 storm water mitigation project along the Devlin Memorial Field parking lot.

"I have been living the stormwater management dream since I plunged into local government management in 1981, embracing the concept of stewardship of our natural resources and protection of liberty and property. This project symbolizes all we have to do, are doing, and continue to do to demonstrate how we can manage stormwater in a natural, unobtrusive way," town Manager Toby Cordek said.

The proposal included the addition of one or more rain gardens along the field parking lot to absorb two inches of rainfall with no overflow. Construction is to start immediately and will last approximately five days, weather permitting.

According to Bill Shema, ASWP operations director, approximately 680,000 gallons of water run off into Pine Creek from that particular parking lot. Petroleum from asphalt and vehicles along with sediment, dirt and other contaminates create problems, especially for North Park Lake.

"The Department of Environment Protection’s objective was to retain 500,000 gallons a year from Pine Creek. The McCandless project alone will retain 250,000-300,000 a year," Shema said. "The time allotted for the project is two years and our deadline of Sept. 30 is quickly approaching."

The project was free-of-charge to the town from an existing grant fund secured by the society and it’s partner the Rain Garden Alliance, a partnership of a dozen or more like-minded organizations and agencies in western Pennsylvania seeking to improve storm water related practices and awareness, existing grant fund.

Bruce Betty, Town of McCandless zoning and land use officer, said, "This rain garden will be a welcome demonstration of stormwater control tools utilized in the town. Not only will it serve to control and filter water, but will serve as an important educational tool."

According to Shema, rain gardens are simple depressions in the landscape designed to receive rain water from impervious surfaces, and eliminate the associated water flow to storm sewers or combined sewer systems, and to slow rain water entering our adjacent streams and rivers.

The gardens also capture and treat this type of stormwater runoff, an environmental issue the Town has been attempting to create more awareness about. The rain gardens will serve as a filter of contaminants as well.

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