Oyster Bay Goes Green

Oyster Bay Goes Green with New Rain Garden

by Amy Mandelbaum and Mark A. Tedesco

Originally posted on "Greening the Apple: EPA's New York City Blog"

January 2015

The newly installed rain garden at Oyster Bay’s Western Waterfront will capture, treat, and infiltrate polluted stormwater runoff before entering nearby Oyster Bay, and eventually Long Island Sound. Photo credit: Amy Mandelbaum, New York Sea Grant/ Long Island Sound Study.

Did you ever stop to think where water goes after it leaves your downspout? If you’re like most people, once stormwater is out of sight, it’s out of mind. Most likely, the stormwater rushes down your driveway, onto the street, and to the nearest storm drain. If you don’t live in the Big, I mean, Green Apple, then that drain goes directly to your local waterway, whether it be a lake, creek, river, bay, estuary, or even the ocean. So, what’s the big deal?

Well, that stormwater isn’t so clean by the time it makes it to your local waterway, as it picks up litter, nutrients, and plenty of other things along the way. This polluted stormwater runoff goes directly into the water without having a chance to be cleaned.

So, what can we do about it? That’s where green infrastructure comes into play. Green infrastructure is essentially mimicking what nature did before we started building gray infrastructure, such as gutters, roads, pipes, etc. Out of the many green infrastructure practices, one of the best for filtering polluted stormwater runoff is a rain garden: a shallow, vegetated basin that captures, treats, and infiltrates polluted stormwater runoff within a day. It is designed to treat the first inch of rain, which is the most polluted, and the plants, soil, and mulch filter the polluted stormwater runoff before it enters your local waterway.

The Town of Oyster Bay realized the need to redirect the polluted stormwater runoff from the roadway along the waterfront before going into nearby Oyster Bay, a Long Island Sound Stewardship Area, and eventually Long Island Sound. The Town sought and received a Long Island Sound Futures Fund grant to install a rain garden, all while educating the local community. The rain garden was installed in October, with assistance from other local organizations and volunteers. As part of the project, a corresponding rain garden training program was offered for homeowners, municipal officials, and landscape professionals in November. This rain garden now serves as a demonstration to the local community and its visitors of a green infrastructure practice that can be easily incorporated into the landscape.

So, the next time it rains, I hope you take a closer look at your downspout.

If your town would like assistance mitigating the effects of stormwater runoff, contact your local Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) office in New York or Connecticut.

 About the Authors: Amy Mandelbaum is the New York Outreach Coordinator for the Long Island Sound Study. She works for New York Sea Grant in Stony Brook, NY. She received her Ed.M. in science education in 2012 and a B.S. in environmental science in 2007 from Rutgers University.

Mark Tedesco is director of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Long Island Sound Office. Mr. Tedesco is responsible for supporting implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Long Island Sound, approved in 1994 by the Governors of New York and Connecticut and the EPA Administrator, in cooperation with federal, state, and local government, private organizations, and the public. Mr. Tedesco received his M.S. in marine environmental science in 1986 and a B.S in biology in 1982 from Stony Brook University.

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed here are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.