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The City of Portland, Oregon

Environmental Services

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Phone: 503-823-7740

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Saturday’s Rainstorm – Captured!

2 Comments

native plants help soak up the rainPortland’s Halloween revelers may have gotten soaked in the heavy rainstorm that day, but there is good environmental news to report. 

In the past, a rainstorm like we had last Saturday would have brought large volumes of stormwater, oil, and grease from I-5 and other roads and washed it directly into Tryon Creek.  But this time, a large amount of runoff from the rainstorm was captured, slowed and filtered by the terraced raingarden project built by Environmental Services and the Oregon Department of Transportation. 

One of BES’s landscape architects who worked on the project bravely ventured out in Saturday’s rain to see how the facility was performing and shared these photos:

terraced rain gardens fill with water

 

 

Learn more about the project and see the construction photos in our Before and After blog post.

 

slowing stormwater to filter pollutants
Check out the Tryon Creek Watershed Report Card to learn more about water quality and stormwater issues in Tryon Creek. Watershed Report Cards icon

 

 

2 Comments

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1

Jan Kuhl-Urbach

November 9, 2015 at 7:43 PM

Yes, other folks than the brave architect were out on Halloween but couldn't get through on 26th under Barbur due to water about a foot deep. Presumably this was due to a clogged storm drain.
Nice job with the swale-how about some street maintenance when the leaves start falling?

2

Sara Culp

November 13, 2015 at 11:06 AM

Hi Jan, sorry to hear about the flooded area. This time of year is always challenging to keep up with storm drain clearing since the rain and leaves fall at the same time. City crews were very busy all across the city on Halloween weekend. They rely on citizen help clearing drains or reporting them if the problem is too big. If there is a storm drain or flooding issue, you can call 503-823-1700 to notify the City about the particular location.

For more information you can check out PBOT's webpage about stormwater maintenance: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/319667

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