Stormwater Management: A Foundational Principle of Ecological Landscape Design
Did you know that with 1” of rain, 36,000 gallons of water fall on your rooftop?
What happens next is up to you.
Learn from the Patterns of Nature
At Blossom Landscape, we have been thinking about this issue since experiencing the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996, when the Willamette River crested at almost 30 feet. In the early 2000s, Blossom began working to maintain healthy waterways by keeping rainwater on-site in every landscape. With drainage and basement water issues common in Portland homes and the realities of extremes in climate, stormwater management became a focal point of our work.
Flooding just north of downtown Portland in February 1996, viewed looking southeast towards the Steel Bridge - Photograph by Steve Morgan
Portland has a combined sewer system that mixes stormwater with sewage water. When the system becomes overwhelmed with excessive rain, it results in sewage overflowing directly into the Willamette River and Columbia Slough. The Flood in 1996 led to 6 million gallons of combined sewage overflow into local rivers.
Blossom began trying to learn from the patterns of nature, in particular, how water moved through the landscape and how it could be utilized as an asset. Solutions we incorporate range from simple grading, rock-lined trenches, swales, and rain gardens to more extensive underground solutions such as channel drains and dry wells.
Partnering with the City of Portland
The City of Portland was also undergoing its own trials and tribulations with a new approach to stormwater management, including “the Big Pipe” as well as the “Tabor to the River” program. In 2009, the Tabor to the River program was authorizing funds and partnerships for stormwater projects. Blossom aligned itself to help pilot what is now known as the “Residential Stormwater Retrofit” program, offering City-funded onsite stormwater management solutions installing rain gardens and dry wells in targeted neighborhoods We are still partners in that work today!
This program combined with the Cities “Green Street” public right of way stormwater management of selected roads and sidewalks have been extremely successful. Over the past twenty-five years these programs have removed an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of stormwater from the sewage system by percolating the water into the soil instead of sending it into the sewer.
Benefits & Solutions of Stormwater Management
At Blossom, we believe that effective stormwater management is about more than just routing water away from your foundation and sewage overflows; it's a critical component of sustainable living, environmental stewardship, and professional landscape design. Benefits include: protecting water quality, recharging ground water, increasing bioactivity in soil, mitigating the heat island effect, supporting our local ecosystem, as well as economic incentives ranging from increased property values to reduced flood damage.
Portland’s climate is experiencing more intense rainfall events and longer dry spells, making resilience a priority. Landscapes built with stormwater management in mind are inherently better equipped to handle these extremes. At Blossom, by prioritizing stormwater management, we work closely with you to help protect your investment in your landscape, but also participate in the collective effort to keep Portland’s natural environment beautiful and healthy.
