post-construction BMPs

By Deborah K. Rich, SF Gate
Saturday, December 6, 2008

Embedded in both urban and suburban lot design is the "pave and pipe paradigm," according to Brock Dolman, director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center's Water Institute. It favors grading, piping and paving properties to drain away rainwater as quickly as possible.

But rapidly draining water off landscapes rather than allowing it the time and space to soak in causes a host of problems downstream and in the pipes. Culverts pour water into gullies and seasonal creeks, overloading and eroding the natural drainage area and rushing sediment into rivers, streams and estuaries, where it imperils fish.

Downspouts, gutters and sloping driveways conduct water into the storm water and sewer systems, which can dump raw sewage when overloaded. After we're finished draining our properties, we pay, increasingly dearly, to pipe water back into our homes and landscapes.

Dolman advocates replacing the "drain age" with a new "retain age," wherein we capture and store storm water for future use and resculpt yards and gardens to allow water to percolate into the ground.

To take a step into the retain age, consider harvesting rainwater from your roof and banking more water in your soil.

Harvesting roof water
Every inch of rainfall on 100 square feet of roof surface yields 55 to 60 gallons of water. For a 2,500-square-foot home, that translates to 1,375 to 1,500 gallons of water per inch of rain. This water can be caught and stored in above- or belowground cisterns and used for drinking, in-house nonpotable uses or irrigation, depending upon what filtration systems are installed and upon local regulations.

For entire article and web references on Water Harvesting, please go to website below.

Christy Lattin, Lahontan Valley News
September 5, 2008

Developers planning to build homes or commercial property in the shadow of the Truckee Canal in Fernley may soon face added requirements from the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District. The TCID policy committee and board of directors meet Monday morning to develop a written policy for development along the Fernley Reach of the Truckee Canal.

Dave Overvold, TCID project manager, said the board wants to require developers to install an impermeable barrier in the section of the Truckee Canal above their development. The barrier will be a vertical concrete wall on the north bank of the canal.

Currently, developers building homes north and downhill of the Truckee Canal are required to widen the canal bank. However, after the Jan. 5 canal breach which flooded 590 homes in Fernley, the Bureau of Reclamation instituted stringent requirements for TCID before more water could be sent down the canal. The BOR owns the Newlands Project, including the Truckee Canal, but TCID operates and maintains the project.

After the flood, BOR stepped in to shut down the canal, which diverts water from the Truckee River and channels it through the Truckee Canal to Lahontan Reservoir. The federal agency limited the amount of water flowing in the Truckee Canal and established several benchmarks for TCID to meet before the flows were increased.

Now, the canal flows at a rate no more than 350 cubic feet per second, about half the maximum capacity of the canal. BOR stated it will not allow flows to increase to 750 cfs or full capacity until permanent structural modifications are made. BOR has stated it expects the permanent fixes to take several years to complete.

"If a future developer comes in and builds next to the canal, he should be made to pay some amount of money to offset the costs (of building the concrete wall)," said Cal Eilrich, former president of the Fernley Builders Association and former board member of the Builders Association of Northern Nevada. He questioned the method of building segments of the wall which may not be continuous.

"How can you piecemeal this?" he asked. Eilrich also pointed out that residential development has essentially stalled in Fernley due to the real estate downturn and it could be another five years before a big development breaks ground.

Hundreds of vacant homes remain in inventory now, Eilrich said, with 900 finished lots that have yet to be developed. Tentative maps for some developments have already been approved without the new requirements, but Eilrich wondered if TCID would seek to institute those before building begins.

Eilrich is a current Fernley councilman but he has made it clear he was speaking strictly as a former developer. He agrees the canal needs to be reinforced, but he sees it more of a public works project than an irrigation district project. He pointed out that some of worst damage from the January flood occurred a half-mile downstream from the canal breech, and that a concrete wall upstream wouldn't have helped unless it extended the entire length of the Fernley Reach.

"This is an issue that affects all citizens who live in Fernley," he said.

The TCID Policy Committee will meet Monday at 8 a.m. at the TCID board room, 2666 Harrigan Road. The TCID Board of Directors will meet at 9 a.m. to review and/or approve the policy. For the complete agendas, visit www.tcid.org.

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 6, 2008
Developers would face new requirements if they build homes or commercial buildings near the aging Truckee Canal in Fernley under a proposal being considered by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District.

The district board wants to require developers to install an impermeable barrier in any section of the Truckee Canal above new development. Dave Overvold, TCID project manager, said the barrier would be a vertical concrete wall on the canal's north bank.

A Jan. 5 breach of the canal flooded about 600 Fernley homes. The 31-mile canal, operated and maintained by the irrigation district, sends water from the Truckee River to Fallon-area farmers. Currently, developers building homes north and downhill of the Truckee Canal are required to widen the canal bank.

Fernley City Councilman Cal Eilrich, former president of the Fernley Builders Association, said he agrees the canal needs to be reinforced, but sees it as more of a public works project than an irrigation district project. He noted that some of worst damage from the January flood occurred a half-mile downstream from the canal breech, and that a concrete wall upstream wouldn't have helped unless it extended the entire length of the canal through Fernley.

"This is an issue that affects all citizens who live in Fernley," said Eilrich, who stressed he was speaking only as a former developer.

"If a future developer comes in and builds next to the canal, he should be made to pay some amount of money to offset the costs (of building the concrete wall)," Eilrich told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard newspaper. Eilrich also noted residential development has essentially stalled in Fernley due to the real estate downturn and it could be another five years before a big development breaks ground.