In Seattle we learned about Natural Drainage Systems!
We tried some new things in this video, tell us what you think!
Thanks to everyone for the recent feedback and encouragement, it helped immensely.
For more info on the government programs started by Seattle Public Utilities to naturally treat storm water:
www.seattle.gov/util/naturalsystems
To find out why stormwater matters and how you can implement natural drainage systems in your own yard check out this site from the University of Maryland:
www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/SedimentandStormwater/index.asp
For more info about natural water treatment using living machines, check out John Todd’s website:
http://www.oceanarks.org/
To get info on rainwater harvesting (a great way to reduce stormwater runoff and water your garden), check out Brad Lancaster’s website:
http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/
Technorati Tags: Sustainable, Green, Road Trip, Storm Water Treatment, Natural Drainage, Seattle
Great video
I’ll have to check and see if there is any program like this in the Los Angeles area. I would love to see the LA River fixed in this way.
The shot of the grouped mailboxes over the comments about community-building was a good choice.
I really liked this video and this program. I like that the solution seems to involve no electronic or high tech parts making it practical for many other areas to implement.
Nice shot of the TV antenna.
best video yet, both in terms of production value and content. I really learned from this video. I didn’t know what daylighting or bioremediation were. The pink outlining device was really great; but hey, I had top look up nonpoint source pollution.
The Sound quality has improved. and i really liked the bit about community… Give up hope!
Great job.
yes
you guys used some great techniques in this video.
the content kicked ass too, i was so excited to see such a simple (relatively) project happening in a big city. very cool model for other cities and esp in smaller towns where it might be more do-able.
i loved when you paused for a definition. that helped put my brain into a better place when listening to what they were explaining as well. that helped a lot.
like boaz said maybe make sure that when you put one of the phrases up, that you define it or link to a defination even if it’s linked to in another post.
nice one nice one.
hey hey, great post guys. I felt like I was watching PBS or something! I like the new format, not to mention a great topic to report on. thanks!
as everyone has said, this is one of your best so far.
i know sometimes the toughest thing is getting access to these stories…and making people feel comfortable on camera. You obviously have this down.
As I watch your videos, I realize how deeply ignorant I am about much of this stuff. And i consider myself pretty progressive. Your videos also make me feel comforted that there are much smarter people than myself actively working on building the infrastructure and examples to make people and nature work better together.
It’s not all doom and gloom. Environmentalists seem more and more to feel empowered by actively working on these small steps.
Publish a video every monday!
You’re better than PBS.
Excellent!
A good job of covering the engineering/planning side of the story.
I’m curious about how the people who live on this street feel about their “bio-stream”. An interview with one of the neighbors telling about how they use and care for the bio-stream in their front yard would flesh out the “community” issue.
John Leeke
Girls! Girls! This was fantastic! I really can see that you took a step back and thought about the first phase of your trip. Excellent storytelling, involving sustainability, obviously, and also your own journey.
great video! it’s encouraging to hear the environmentalists had large influence in making this project happen. and so good that the community is right behind it and all working towards a common goal. it would be great to see this happen in other places/countries also. I liked the info/definition breaks too, very useful.
SO interesting and something I know absolutely nothing about. I really liked the way you paused to define a few terms. Also, as I came to the end of this video, I found myself wishing for some kind of summing-up, by one of you, of the main points of the interview. I am curious what types of plants they used to create their block-long project and why…why this is hard to sell to communities…or is it just hard to sell to the government entities who’d have to pay for it to get done……Your story makes me want to know more about it. REALLY great job!!!
laurie
For real rootzone for wastewater, check out:
http://www.ecological-engineering.com
Wow! I just found your site today as I was looking to see who - if anyone - was blogging about stormwater and non-point source pollution. Thanks for putting this content out there. I think your road trip concept and the video are great!
I’m engineer who works in this area - protecting water quality by designing treatment for stormwater runoff. I want to make a couple of disinctions and add some resources.
There are three separate areas of environmental engineering that are discussed in this video and the other resource links. They use different kinds of process to treat different kinds of pollution. They are:
* Wastewater treatment - Cleans up our shit. AKA Gets the solids and bacteria out of sewage. This is what the living machine, the back-yard septic system, and your municipal wastewater treatment plant do.
* Bioremediation - Uses specially selected organisms to remove contaminates in the soil. Think Superfund sites, leaking ungerground tanks at gas stations, and the effect on groundwater (that many people use for drinking water).
* Stormwater treatment - Deals with the non-point source pollution that Mara discusses in the video. The pollution comes from the fertilizer and pesticides and dog poo that wash off lawns, car’s oil drips & brake pad wear, and…anything that’s exposed to rain. We remove some of the high nutrients that cause eutrophication, the bacteria, and the oils. The SEA street does this by filtering with soil and organic matter. We hope the plants we uptake pollutants, but they are specifically designed for this.
More resources:
Center for Watershed Protection
http://www.cwp.org
Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
http://www.portlandonline.com/BES/index.cfm?c=31094
Maryland Department of the Environment
http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/SedimentandStormwater/home/index.asp