El Niño Means Rain...

Sound Advice for your Grounds

By Bryan henson

An El Niño winter typically means significant rain and runoff throughout Southern California. As a result, improving your ability to manage water on your property has never been timelier. Here are some approaches to consider.

Create Permeable Surfaces

Driveways, patios, and walkways all provide potentially easy ways to reduce runoff and allow rainwater to soak into thirsty soil. Permeable surfaces help ground water recharge by allowing water to flow into open spaces between the materials. Porous materials can also filter pollutants and solids from water as it percolates into the soil. Crushed gravel, porous pavers, stone or brick pavers, porous concrete, and permeable asphalt, are all simultaneously affordable and aesthetic options.

Add Raingardens and/or Bioswales to Your Landscape

Soil will tell you when it has absorbed enough rainwater. Managing runoff onsite then becomes the primary concern. Raingardens and bioswales can accommodate this runoff. Raingardens are landscape elements situated in a slight depression and are designed to collect and temporarily hold runoff, allowing it to percolate into and through soil. Water can be directed from roofs, driveways or other impervious surface via gutters, pipes, or swales. They must be located at least five feet from a structure and designed to convey runoff from large rain events to a storm drain or other storm water drainage route. A bioswale, on the other hand, combines infiltration and filtration, with the added benefit of improving water quality by removing silt and pollution from runoff. The benefits of these features include less imported water use for irrigation, which lowers your water bill and reducing flooding and erosion.

Consider Catchment

No one knows whether the last four years of drought are an anomaly or the new normal. With the potential for an abundance of rain