Experts share tips for managing stormwater
BUFFALO TWP — Certain plants can be used to block and soak up water with their roots, which keeps rainwater from building up and damaging the ground.
Roxanne Swan, an environmental botanist with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, said some plants native to this part of the country are some of the best suited for mitigating rainwater buildup.
“Using native plants and green infrastructure methods … it’s really just important to not only our daily lives, but to the rest of our ecosystem,” Swan said. “These plants are helping us to have ecological services that otherwise are super expensive or just can’t be done by technology.”
Swan was just one of the presenters who spoke at a stormwater management workshop Wednesday, Aug. 30, at Buffalo Buffalo Creek Nature Park. Sarah Koenig, conservation director with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, said the agency hosts these workshops a few times a year.
“It’s led by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, but it’s in partnership with a lot of other organizations,” Koenig said. “We do a lot of education and workshops. Most of what we do is for the public; we also work with students, seniors and municipalities.”
In attendance Wednesday were several leaders of watershed coalitions, but also administrators of municipalities and even some members of housing authorities.
Koenig said managing rain and water runoff is important to consider in development plans, and most municipalities have regulations in place regarding water management; which is why the workshop included a session on reading local ordinances.
“Stormwater becomes a bigger issue with development, or a bigger concern,” Koenig said. “There are a lot of regulations, and it also impacts water quality, which impacts drinking water and habitat. It’s important everywhere, but I think it’s even more important in areas where there is development happening.”
Jim Pillsbury, of the Westmoreland Conservation District, led a slideshow presentation on what poor water runoff management looks like, which included methods on how to improve it. His session preceded Swan’s, who went on to offer tips on using plants for runoff mitigation.
“We’re helping to protect water quality,” Swan said. “We’re helping to use these plants in restoration projects to avoid using plants from outside the United States, where they can create problems like invasive species.”
Koenig said the Audubon society has a full-day conference on water management scheduled for Nov. 7, which anyone can attend. She said implementing good stormwater management will help keep water quality clean and the rest of the nearby environment happy.
“We’re sharing knowledge — and in this case — experience, lessons learned on managing stormwater in an environmentally-friendly way,” Koenig said.
