CWEA Stormwater Webinar: RiverTools - A Maintenance Training Kit for Schools 09/19/19
REGISTRATION IS A 2 STEP PROCESS!
ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS 1st STEP.... YOU WILL RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL PLEASE OPEN THAT E-MAIL AND
COMPLETE THE 2nd REGISTRATION STEP!
CWEA Stormwater Webinar: RiverTools -
A Maintenance Training Kit for Schools
Presenters: Rebecca Stack, Designgreen and Lauren Wheeler, Natural Resource Design
Description: RiverSmart Schools is the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment’s model program demonstrating the integration of innovative stormwater management solutions with the schoolyard conservation. Originally, a school-centered gardening and watershed science program, low impact development (LID) was added as an installation option in 2008. Since then, new LID design and construction projects are supported at three of the five participating schools annually and stormwater issues are part of the curriculum aids for all. Creating and maintaining the network of these LID schoolyards is a vital part of the DC’s expanding “green infrastructure” and a key element needed to achieve the City’s water quality goals. Nearing a decade of work, many of these sites have reached or passed critical maintenance points in their life cycle. RiverTools begins to redress the issue by providing program participants and schoolyard LID caretakers with BMP basics including background science and visual how-to-maintain materials. Using narrated power point slides, an accompanying checklist based workbook field manual, the Kit walks participants through the science, routine maintenance needs, and curriculum connections to LID.
In this talk we share RiverTools’ key elements, Why, What, Who, When, and How of maintaining LID installations on school grounds. We discuss the Kit’s production and launch experiences. We review a promotion strategy to help participating schools use the maintenance kit with their staff and volunteers. Finally, we suggest a template for other school communities to tailor resources for their institutional partners to foster a common understanding of their LID installations and maintenance needs, and a shared method to maintenance planning and action.
