Parking Lot Woes

A third site that we are looking is the center "Y" of our parking lot, which has the largest volume of storm water runoff of any site in our community. It would be an ideal place to collect storm water if we can identify a way to redirect the water into the ground rather than the storm drains. One thought we have is to replace the grass in the green areas around the parking lot with deep-rooted conservation landscaping. This would allow the parking lot runoff to flow into the loose soil, where the plants could soak it up. The challenges here are that the grassy areas are not large and they are limited in how much water they could absorb. We would also have to work around utilities and water lines across some of the green sections. Lastly, a flood of rain water might harm trees that are already planted in those green areas. We are consulting with an environmental engineer and experienced landscape contractors to leverage their critical expertise as we explore the options for storm water remediation in our community.

Storm drain that takes in a large volume of water

Parking lot "y" with green space

Parking lot in the rain, water
flowing into the storm drain