How to create a clean water alley, Part 5

Posted on February 1, 2013August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

While the concrete cured, the crew focused on several elements as illustrated in the following photographs

Refining grade elevations for the bio-swale.

Using a roller prevents overspray into adjacent properties

At the end of November, rain was predicted, and with an incomplee bio-swale, the crew protected the project site from sediment carried in runoff. Construction was halted for several days.

Preparing for rain

Rain delayed construction

When it was dry enough to work, the crew focused on completing the forebay and the weir apron.

If you’ve ever wondered, bollards” are structural elements – often posts – that allow pedestrians access but block vehicles from entry. Bollards at the entries of the Paseo make it easier for pedestrians, strollers, and carts to acces the Paseo.

During the final days of construction, the crew installed the green screen, refined the eleveation points for the bio-swale, and planted more than 10,000 plants native to southern California.

A green screen provides a structure for native vines to grow and adds an element of interest to the length of the Paseo.

Placed, spaced, and ready for planting. — Native plants placed, spaced, and ready for planting.

A resident appreciated the opportunity to test the “strollability” of the almost complete Paseo.

The Paseo, ready for pedestrians and rain.

The Council for Watershed Health would like to express our appreciation to the residents adjacent to the Paseo and in the neighborhood for their patience with the various construction activities.

We also thank our project funders:

Urban Greening Proposition 84, Strategic Growth Councill, State of California

Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

Proposition O, Bureau of Sanitation, City of Los Angeles

Department of Water & Power, City of Los Angeles

How to create a clean water alley, Part 4

Posted on January 31, 2013August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the reason we are converting the Paseo into green infrastructure is because it receives water from about 20 upstream acres of land and the soils and geology are ideally suited to infiltration to groundwater. During larger storms, water picks up speed as it flows into the alleyway. Thus, we needed to design something to slow the water down before it hits the bio-swale.

The Forebay reduces the erosive force of water entering the bio-swale. It also allows sediment and litter carried with the water to settle out. The forebay elements include a river rock cobble bed, a weir, and a river rock cobble apron for the weir.

The river rock cobble bed at the forebay entry creates an obstacle course of sorts for the water entering the bio-swale; water slows down as it moves over and around the river rock cobble. Slow moving water is less likely to erode soil and has more time to soak into the soil – exactly what we want to happen in the bio-swale.

A weir is a low dam built across a water course to regulate the flow of water. The weir is constructed of concrete and separates the river rock cobble bed from the bio-swale; it regulates the amount of water entering the bio-swale through the channel at the bottom of the weir and its low walls. When there is a small volume of water, it will flow through the 12 inch wide channel at the bottom of the weir. When larger volumes of water enter the river rock cobble bed, water will continue to flow through the channel but the low wall of the weir will hold back water until it is at a height that it is allowed to spill over the walls. Eventually all the water moves through or over the weir.

The cobble apron on the down-side of the weir protects the bio-swale from the erosive force of water moving through the channel or spilling over the weir. When water flowing through or over the weir hits the cobble apron, its velocity or energy is dissipated or spread out over the cobble so the water entering the bio-swale is moving at a slower, gentler rate that is less likely to cause erosion.

Before the river rock cobble bed and cobble apron could be constructed, we needed to complete construction of the concrete entry and weir. The construction crew refined the grade elevation points for the entry, forebay, and weir. The concrete pour for the entry and weir went smoothly. We have a few more steps to get through before you can see the finished forebay, however, so hold on for more.

to be continued

How to create a clean water alley, Part 2

Posted on December 20, 2012August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

In Part 1, we showed the initial steps in constructing the infiltration and bio-swale. Part 2 illustrates the complex choreography of marrying the infiltration trench and the bio-swale.

The majority of water entering the Paseo will be directed to the bio-swale, which will filter and allow water to infiltrate the soil and migrate to the infiltration trench. To maintain the function of the infiltration trench, we need to prevent soil from the bio-swale from filling in the voids and gaps. A geotextile – a tightly woven material – both helps prevent soil from moving into the infiltration trench and allow water to move into the trench.

The crew placed a layer of geotextile on top of the base layer of gravel and marked it to indicate where the edges of the infiltration trench and the bio-swale met. One side will have soil and the other will have gravel.

The challenge when backfilling the trench with gravel and the swale with soil is to maintain the vertical edge of the geotextile. To achieve the vertical profile of the geotextile, the crew placed plywood on edge to create a vertical guide. On one side of the plywood, a course of bio-retention soil was placed, then the geotextile that lay in place on the trench was “flipped over” the plywood guide to ‘cover’ the bio-soil layer and a course of gravel was spread out, then the geotextile was ‘flipped over’ the course of gravel and a layer of bio-soil spread out.

This sequence continued until the heights of the bio-soil and the gravel met the desired elevation points. The crew started in the center of the Paseo and worked out toward either ends of the Paseo. Kudos to the Paseo’s Field Superintendent Jose Esquivel, American Landscape, who masterfully choreographed the complicated logistics required for the delivery of gravel and soil and the work of spreading the materials.

To be continued next week.

How to create a clean water alley, Part I

Posted on December 19, 2012August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

The Elmer Paseo is all but complete – we still have some finishing touches to add so it won’t be officially open until the new year. For all of you stormwater geeks, following is a photo essay showing how to create a clean water alley.

The Infiltration Trench and the Bio-swale. These two main features needed to be constructed simultaneously and included some challenging logistics. Down the center of the Paseo, the construction crew excavated a 4 foot deep trench which exposed the sandy native soil that is ideal for infiltrating water. Next they had to apply a layer of clean sand to help maintain consistent infiltration the entire length of the trench.

To protect the adjacent properties from water migrating toward their properties, workers installed an impervious liner along both sides of the existing wall, creating a funnel of sorts to direct water toward the open bottom trench.

Next, workers backfilled the 4’ deep trench with rough angular gravel, which creates voids or gaps between the rocks which allow water to collect and flow through the gravel to the bottom of the trench where it will infiltrate to the native soil. Smooth rocks will ‘lock’ together, preventing the formation of voids and gaps for water to collect.

To be continued

What’s next for green streets? How about green alleys!

Posted on November 16, 2012August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

Imagine living next to a blighted alleyway. You’d like to use it to walk to church or school or the bus stop, but it’s unsafe and ugly. This is the situation that used to exist in the Elmer Avenue neighborhood. Step one was just cleaning up the Paseo so people could use it again – getting the abandoned cars towed, adding a light, and painting over the graffiti. Thankfully, the City of Los Angeles took the first step in making the Elmer Paseo a safer walkway back in 2009.

But, the Paseo still flooded, making it unusable and unsafe many days of the year. This year, the Council for Watershed Health took the next step.

In October, out came the asphalt paving and in went the construction crew to begin excavation for a new Paseo that will capture between 1.3 to 1.9 million gallons water annually, provide a safe and comfortable pedestrian connection to local goods and services, reduce localized temperatures, attract birds and butterflies, and raise community awareness about their local watershed.

Stay tuned for regular construction updates!

How can green streets and complete streets help our communities?

Posted on April 26, 2011August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk about taking our vision beyond a single street retrofit to transforming communities at the Municipal Green Building Conference in Downey. Our lens is sustainable water management. The traditional complete streets concept focuses on making streets and neighborhoods pedestrian (and bicyclist) friendly – focusing on the human scale rather than the car scale, so to speak. Complete green streets look farther, to how we can bring nature back to neighborhoods. Urban water runoff and flooding are particular concerns, which can be solved by wholistic planning that takes into account climate, transportation, and the needs of the community. This is what we did in Sun Valley.Back to the Green Building Conference. If you are interested, the video of my presentation is available along with presentations by Mark Hanna of Geosyntec, Calvin Abe of Ahbe Landscape Architects, and Paula Daniels of the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, all on the topic of complete, green streets. The session was moderated by Edward Belden, of the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council. Thanks much to the skillful videography John Gannon of Strikeout Studio.

Solutions for Dirty Stormwater

Posted on August 20, 2010August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

In these dog days of summer, its nice to see a fresh new video from NRDC on “stormwater runoff 101.” Starting with the end in mind, NRDC shows how people can do simple things to keep rivers, beaches, and oceans clean. I also like the video because they feature Elmer Avenue as an example of doing things right.

Is Your Favorite LID Project on the Map?

Posted on July 26, 2010August 13, 2019 by nancysteele

Want to know more about where to find green infrastructure projects around the country? The National NEMO* program has an interactive website for you! The Low Impact Development (LID) Atlas was created by the Connecticut NEMO Program and the California Center for Water and Land Use “to highlight innovative LID practices around the country.” It’s pretty neat to cruise around the country looking at various projects. Too bad there aren’t more listed – a map like this is only as good as its informants.

Unfortunately the site wasn’t set up as a wiki, so you have to be a member with a login to post your project. Right now Elmer Avenue isn’t up there – I’m trying to get it posted.

If you know of a project that should be on the map, you’ll have to contact your state NEMO rep (and hope that you have one).

*The acronym is meaningless today but used to stand for Non-point source Education for Municipal Officials.

Elmer Avenue: The Venice of Sun Valley

Posted on July 23, 2010August 15, 2019 by nancysteele

That’s what some people are calling the new green street retrofit – I guess because the swales look like little canals. Or maybe it’s because the street is just so pretty right now, after the plants have been in the ground for a couple of months. Emily Green, LA Times, calls it “The Dry Garden,” and Sunset Magazine’s Fresh Dirt blog says it is “a model, we hope, for the future.” I like the Mother Nature Network blog’s headline, “Elmer Ave. in Sun Valley, Calif., is ready for stormy weather.” You can read the most complete coverage on LA Creek Freak in the piece that has generated the most comments of any posting I’ve seen so far, “Elmer Avenue Green Street Project Explored.”

In case you haven’t been able to get out to see the street yet, here are a few more photos from earlier this month.

The plants in the swales are growing and blooming so well; I’m looking forward to seeing how they weather the summer heat.

I can’t give the residents enough credit for having the vision and grace to allow their street to become this showcase for all of Los Angeles, for how we can turn our streets and yards into gardens that harvest the rain.

Turning Yards Into Rain Gardens

Posted on June 8, 2010August 15, 2019 by nancysteele

Is California still in a drought? The state thinks so. Or maybe we should stop talking about a “drought,” which implies a short term situation beyond our control, and start talking about a water crisis. In May the state upped its delivery of water through the massive state water project to 45 percent of requests. They started the year promising 5% of requests. So this is a good thing, right? Since when is 45% a good thing? The “normal” delivery (over the past 10 years) has been 68% of requests.

Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin said “While the increase in deliveries is good news, we will continue to have a water supply crisis until we improve our conveyance system, increase storage and resolve the complex environmental problems of the Delta.”

Solutions? We need to use water, of course, but we are also victims of engineering. The system is designed to direct good rain into storm drains and send it to the ocean, bypassing the soil and groundwater basins. This way we lose enough water every year to supply over a million people. In the words of Dorothy Green, we need to unpave LA!

By turning yards into rain gardens and streets into water recharge facilities, we can ensure we have enough clean water for the future.

We took a small step in that direction with the completion of Elmer Avenue this May. Elmer recharges 16 acre feet a year, which is enough water to replace that used by residents of the street plus a few more households. Plus with their new drought tolerant and native landscaping and education about water conservation, we expect the residents will be using even less water into the future.

We have more pictures on our website.

Microclimate Forms

How we think and act locally, in our own places, about issues of personal importance

Category: Low Impact Development