Visit the City of Kearney Rain Barrel Display Area
Get Ideas On How You Can Help Conserve Water and Protect Our Local Environment.
Collecting rainwater for your garden is a smart idea, no matter what your motivation. Plants like rainwater, because it’s naturally soft, and free of chlorine and other chemicals. If you’re on the municipal water system, you stand to save a considerable amount of money.
Here are some current pictures of our City’s first Rain Garden located at the corner of 19th Street and Avenue B. Thank you to Connie McDonnough and Breann Hort for your help with maintenance!
Monarda (Bee balm) is in full bloom right now
Coneflowers and Liatris are starting to bloom as well!
A Threat to You, A Threat to Your Environment
Did you know that once every two and a half minutes someone calls a poison control center to report exposure to a household cleaning substance?1 Over half of these calls involve the exposure of a child under five years old.2 Most of us have several different kinds of toxic substances in our homes, including cleaning supplies, paint thinner, pesticides, etc. Not only are these products toxic while inside your home, if not disposed of properly, they can also be toxic to the environment.
Inlet protection is the last line of defense in preventing sediment from entering storm drain inlets and reaching our waterways. It should never be used as the only Best Management Practice (BMP), and often, if it fails, it is because there is not enough stormwater controls above the inlet to keep sediment on site. One of the common misconceptions about inlet protection is that it is meant to completely block off the inlet. Inlet protection should NEVER completely block off an inlet; not only can this be a safety hazard by flooding the roadway, it is ineffective because the sediment-laden water will just pass by to the next inlet. Instead, inlet protection is meant to slow the water flowing in the curb, shallowly pooling it to allow some of the sediment to drop out. Inlet protection can be constructed from rock socks, sediment control logs, silt fence, block and rock socks, or other materials. There are also numerous proprietary products available. The type of inlet protection you choose should depend on where your inlet is located.
There are numerous products available for purchase for protecting your inlets
Inlet protection in sump conditions
For inlets located in a sump, that is, at the low point of an area or a curb, it is important that the inlet continue to function during larger runoff events. For curb inlets, the maximum height of the protective barrier should be lower than the top of the curb opening to allow overflow into the inlet during larger storms. For area inlets, silt fence or other materials can be used to keep sediment-laden water out of the inlet. Just remember that if there is no overflow to the inlet, your site will experience some localized flooding.
Silt fence keeps sediment out of area inlets
Inlet Protection on Grade
If you inlet is located on a sloped street, instead of blocking off the inlet, you might try using curb socks in the flow line of the gutter uphill from the inlet. This will slow down the stormwater and give the sediment a chance to drop out before it reaches the inlet without blocking off the inlet.
Curb sock slows the flow of stormwater in curb line before it reaches the inlet
For more information on inlet protection, see design details here from the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District IP-1 Urban Storm Drainage Criteria Manual Volume 3
By properly disposing of pet waste and household chemicals, we can greatly reduce the amount of harmful substances introduced to our rivers and lakes.