Alright, I have to apologize. It’s not our intention to damped your mood by bringing up rain, gloom, and thick gray clouds. But here on Vancouver Island and all over the lower mainland, we know that you’d probably rather be annoyed by the weather than devastated by a surprise hit to your bank account.
Yet every year we hear stories of people with wet basements and ruined stuff because stormwater didn’t drain properly or was backed up and flowed into their home.
Look at it this way: your house isn’t a natural structure that rain and water flow can work around. Water flowing down a mountainside takes the easiest route possible. It might bounce off rocks for a millennia or gradually wear down submerged branches, but there’s only one reality: it’s never going to stop. It might slow down in the summer, but once the weather starts to shift, it’s going to come back, and it’s going to follow gravity downward along the easiest path possible.
If that path includes your basement? Raindrops don’t care about your TV, your foundation, or your budget.
So how can you avoid catastrophe this fall well before it has a chance to strike?
1. Create an Easy Path
What’s the best way to deal with the wet weather on the coast? Embrace it! The rain is going to fall and the streams are going to flow, so why not use this natural event to create a beautifully landscaped path that’s easy for the water to navigate?
You can either dig into your property to create a swale, which is a lowered tract for runoff. Swales also help control natural yard pollutants by spreading out water flow and carrying it away from your grass.
What’s the opposite of a swale? A berm. Berms are raised shelves of soil and/or grass that provide a barrier for water runoff. Think of it like building a rat maze, except there’s no cheese at the end.
2. Capture the Problems
While we often see problems created by sheer volume of water, it’s true that in plenty of cases it’s not the water making problems, it’s what comes with the water.
Sediment. Vegetation. Harmful minerals.
You’ve got a chance to do your part to clean up the water table by installing a dissipation box. A dissipation box is a fancy name for a filter or net inserted into the ground where water flows in high volume. The water still gets released, but the dissipation net prevents gunk buildup before its released naturally back into the sub-level. Best part is dissipation boxes are virtually maintenance free.
3. Plant Natural Alternatives
Know why it’s so green out there on the coast during the winter months? Because the vegetation is hyped up on super concentrated rain flow and precipitation. Well, you can create the next best thing right in your own yard by planting thirsty plants that not only suck up moisture from the ground water flow, but look great doing it.
Have a particular spot where water seems to sit stall and become stagnant? Perfect spot for a green feature that thrives in soggy conditions and can handle prolonged submersion.
Again, sorry for the reminder. But better to remind you now than two months from now when it could be too late!
Alright, back to the beach!
