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Hamilton Township's Partnership with the Water Resources Program
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The Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Water Resources Program and Hamilton Township have continued their multi-year partnership again in 2016. This year we have focused on
completing a baseline assessment of stormwater outfalls,
preparing stormwater basin informational materials for property owners,
investigating nuisance flooding problems,
providing property owners with technical review and assistance with stormwater and drainage issues, and offering a rain garden technical assistance program this past spring and summer.
The rain garden technical assistance program provides guidance for homeowners to install rain gardens to help reduce flooding, address drainage issues, and improve water quality in Hamilton Township. An educational workshop was held at the Hamilton Public Library on May 12th to introduce rain gardens to interested homeowners. Topics included why rain gardens are important, how to install rain gardens, and how to maintain rain gardens. The attendees were then given worksheets to collect information about their property so that the RCE Water Resources Program staff could design a rain garden in partnership with the homeowner to address their specific needs.
After the initial educational program, six residents returned on June 8th and 9th for a personal 30 minute technical review session where the RCE Water Resources Program staff reviewed site measurements, soil data, and photographs the homeowners had collected to determine the best location for a rain garden on their property. The RCE Water Resources Program staff then sized a rain garden and worked with individual residents to develop a unique plant palate and layout design. In all, four rain gardens were designed for residences, one rain garden was designed for St. Mark Lutheran Church, and the RCE Water Resources Program staff provided recommendations for foundation drainage to another resident. The RCE Water Resources Program and Hamilton Township look forward to working with residents and reviewing the rain gardens installed by individual homeowners over the course of the summer! Work is ongoing and future homeowner workshops are being planned in the coming year.
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Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights Gets a Rain Garden!
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In the summer of 2015, the RCE Water Resources Program student interns conducted a site visit at the Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights to identify opportunities to install green infrastructure practices. This visit along with others around town were intended to gather information to complete impervious cover assessments (ICAs) and impervious cover reduction action plan (RAPs) for Berkeley Heights. The Chairman of the Berkeley Heights Environmental Commission, Richard Leister, saw the reports and forwarded the school site concept designs to the school board.
The RCE Water Resources Program met with Mr. Leister and the school board and decided to work with the environmental science teacher, Lara Mendenhall, at the high school to get the rain garden designs approved by Principal Nixon and the school board. The RCE Water Resources Program worked with Enviroscapes Inc. to install the two rain gardens on August 22-29, 2016.
Combined, the two rain gardens have the potential to capture, treat, and infiltrate approximately 131,319 gallons of runoff annually from the parking lot of the high school! These rain gardens will also provide wildlife habitat.
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William Penn Foundation Awards $500,000 to the RCE Water Resources Program
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The RCE Water Resources Program was awarded a $500,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation to provide specialized technical assistance for municipalities in the Kirkwood-Cohansey and NJ Highlands subwatershed clusters. Within these clusters, the RCE Water Resources Program will be assessing impervious cover and managing stormwater. Twenty municipalities have been selected within the cluster areas to promote the use of green infrastructure including the development of impervious cover assessments (ICAs), impervious cover reduction action plans (RAPs), green infrastructure feasibility studies, and the implementation of demonstration projects.
This project will engage communities while taking advantage of the energy and enthusiasm of undergraduates from Rutgers University. This project will further empower the cluster partners in their efforts to address the environmental issues of these two very important regions in New Jersey, and to significantly assist the William Penn Foundation in meeting its target subwatershed protection goals and objectives.
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A 2016 Northeast Regional Urban Extension Conference
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Join the Rutgers Cooperative Extension in building collaborative partnerships across university, community, and civic leaders!
This two-day conference will provide opportunities to build collaborative partnerships, examine emerging urban issues, discover innovative technology for outreach, explore innovative funding practices, and address the challenges of urban programming.
Registration is now open!
Register today at $195 per person on/before October 15, 2016 and $225 per person after October 15th. Click here register, learn more, and review the draft agenda for this event hosted at the Rutgers University-Newark Paul Robeson Campus Center!
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RCE Water Resources Program | New Brunswick, NJ 08901 | M-F 8:30 - 4:30pm
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