[CANUFNET] Water and the Growing Urban Canopy

[John Grindon]

As installers and maintainers of municipal trees, whether
boulevards/landscape naturalizations/stormwater pond
treatments/commercial & institutional landscapes, we have encountered
one constant where irrigation is concerned: healthy soils reduce water
consumption requirements. It's a self-evident fact that is regularly
forgotten within the competitive bid environment. Over the last several
years we have worked with a variety of prepared growing media spanning
the entire range of commercially available products. The results have
generally been consistent over the range of diverse applications: soils
containing plant-available micronutrients decrease the need for frequent
irrigation (and coincidentally, require less weeding and invasive
control). Innovative irrigation will go along way toward lessening the
restoration footprint, particularly where municipal street planting is
concerned; innovation at the point of installation will assist even
further.

John Grindon
Urban Restoration Manager
Brinkman & Associates Ltd
520 Sharpe St
New Westiminster BC   V3M 4R2
www.brinkmanforest.com/page126.htm
john_grindon at brinkman.ca
604-521-7771 (office general)
604-520-2809 (direct office line)
604-520-1968 (fax)
778-229-3599 (cel)
 

-----Original Message-----
From: canufnet-bounces at list.web.net
[mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of
netami.stuart at utoronto.ca
Sent: June 19, 2007 7:39 AM
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] Water and the Growing Urban Canopy

Most of the large institutional landscapes that PMA Landscape Architects
has designed or administered in recent years have included rainwater
collection and use for irrigation. There are different solutions for
different sites. For example: Toronto Botanical Garden has a rainwater
cistern and a weather sensor that regulates water use (as well as a
green roof and infiltration trenches in all the paved areas); the new
Vaughan Civic Centre also will have a cistern and will use water pumped
from the sump in the underground parking, William Osler Health Centre in
Brampton uses the stormwater pond for irrigation.  We try to find
innovative, low-maintenance, low-tech ways of turning off the tap and
keeping rainwater where it belongs in the ground.

Once an institution/commercial development has decided to spend money on
irrigation, saving water in their irrigation system is the interesting
part.

Netami Stuart
P M A LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTS
224 Wallace Ave, #321, Toronto, ON, M6H 1V7
t: 416-239-9818	f: 416-239-1310    e: netami at pmalarch.ca
www.pmalarch.ca


Quoting Mark Peterson <mpa at golden.net>:

> What an interesting idea. Water is so critical during the first 
> growing season. The logistical problems do not seem to be that 
> difficult on the surface; it does need some thinking about. Has anyone

> tried this at a large scale?
>
> How is the NGO Riversides project dealing with the industrial and 
> institutional, commercial aspects of this idea J.P. Warren?
>
> Mark Peterson, BES, MLArch, OALA
> Mark Peterson & Associates, Landscape Architect
> (519)743-2990        www.openspacesolutions.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jp Warren" <jpwarren at interlog.com>
> To: <canufnet at list.web.net>
> Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 4:15 PM
> Subject: [CANUFNET] Water and the Growing Urban Canopy
>
>
> Toronto is set to double the size of its canopy. Ottawa's announcement

> of 100,000 trees planted over the next four years as part of the 
> National Tree Planting Challenge, and the UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign

> are important and exciting initiatives.
>
> In order to water these trees while not increasing the fossil fuels 
> burned to operate municipal pumps (pumps consuming a very high amount 
> (50 to 60%) of typical municipal energy requirements) programs such as

> the NGO Riversides is initiating, the harvesting of rainwater using 
> rainbarrels at the homeowner level and larger systems for commercial, 
> industrial, institutional and multi-unit residential, means cities 
> will be able to supply the growing urban forest with water collected 
> freely, and equally importantly for local watersheds, diverted from 
> storm, sanitary, and river systems in our communities.
>
> This rain harvesting approach provides leverage to both sides of the 
> energy equation; It helps mitigate through reducing our need for pump 
> energy, and provides for adaptation, by helping us prepare for warmer,

> drier times ahead. Also, by capturing and making available a supply 
> normally diverted to become waste, it both 'creates' supply and also 
> lessens demand on the municipal potable system currently used to water

> our cities growing trees.
>
> If we're going to grow urban forests in the hot dry environs of our 
> cities, we can use every drop of help we can get. And as our urban 
> infrastructures age and need to be replaced, on-site rainwater 
> harvesting can provide a way to lighten this need as well. The new 
> forests will require lots of water, and right now we toss the bulk of 
> it down the drain.
>
> See www.riversides.org
>
> Cheers,     John-Paul Warren
>
>
> Jp Warren
> 416-467-1339
> Toronto