Installing a Rain Garden

Install a rain garden in your community  – Possible ROAs for a Groundwater Guardian Project

Spring is just around the corner, and a great time to think about installing a rain garden.  A rain garden is a garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a small depression, which is generally formed on a natural slope.  It is designed to temporarily hold and soak in rain water runoff.  Rain gardens help filter out pollutants such as fertilizers, chemicals, bacteria, and others contained in runoff.  They also incorporate native vegetation, reducing the need for fertilizers and after the first year, maintenance is usually minimal.

Rain gardens are effective in:

  • removing up to 90% of nutrients and chemicals
  • removing up to 80% of sediments from rainwater runoff
  • allowing for 30% more water to soak into the ground than a conventional lawn

Consider installing a rain garden as one of your team’s 2016 Result-Oriented Activities.  Remember, you can add an ROA at any time during the year.  Involve the public and make it an educational event!  Read more about how rain gardens benefit a community and how to get started.

 Rain Gardens

Stormwater Management for Homeowners
Some examples of water features – Dallas, PA

Nationwide Program – Neighborhood Environmental Report Your Home Health Status

Nationwide Program – The Keystone Clean Water Team is in pre-launch for a new USA program to help homeowners.  The program helps you to identify the existing and historic environmental hazards in your community.   We are working with a national environmental database search company to offer a report to help you understand your home’s or your future homes environmental health status within a community.  We are doing this by taking a snapshot of the current and historic environmental concerns and hazards in the community and a review of select criminal activity.   This program has been lauched – order a Neighboorhood Hazard Reports.

The program, Neighborhood Environmental Report™, offers a search of over 1,400 databases and millions of records of potential land and groundwater contamination within 1 mile radius of the entered address.  The report  includes a search for concerns that might be dangerous to a homeowner’s family or investment such as nearby leaking underground oil tanks, leaky underground fuel tanks (LUSTs), leaky above ground tanks (LASTs),  CDC Health Assessment Database,  landfills, hazardous waste sites, DOD facilities, gas and radiological sources, National Wetland Mapping, Flooding mapping data, drug houses, and clandestine drug labs.

gw_day

Healthy Communities = Healthy Kids and Families

Some of the most toxic and/or costly hazards exists outside of your home.  These contaminants can enter your home through direct human or animal contract or vapor intrusion into your home through the air, soil, or groundwater.  These hazards pose a threat to you and your family’s health and the value of your property.    Every report includes detailed information about what has been searched and identified as well as contact information for all governmental and private organizations cited in the databases.

The benefits of this report:

1. Help existing homeowners understand the hazards in their communities.
2. Aid future homeowners quickly learn about the historic hazards and concerns to conduct prior water quality, soils, or environmental testing and get the proper inspections.
3. Aid real estate professionals, investors, and appraisers evaluate the value of a home or residential property.
4. If you are selling your home, what a great way to introduce your home and surrounding community to any potential buyers, and as a home buyer, the Neighborhood Environmental Report helps provide peace of mind for you and your family.
5. For environmental groups, this is a great way to educate and inform your community about existing environmental hazards, develop local targeted sub-watershed monitoring programs, and educate children about their communities.  In some cases a larger search area is needed.
6. Home inspectors, environmental laboratories, and other may find the reports useful, but in many cases some additional review or interpretation will be needed to select the appropriate testing parameters, inspections, and monitoring.

(Example Report Dallas Pennsylvania)

We ran this report for a small business owner that was looking to purchase a residential property in Shavertown, PA.  The property was going to be purchased for cash.  We completed the search and search identified a specific potential problem with a past but active leak at a gasoline station.  This lead the buyer to ask for more information.   When the right questions were asked, it was determined that there may be some environmental hazards that could impact the value of the property.  In addition, the preliminary search suggested that the property could be located  in a floodplain.  The quote from the buyer – “The preliminary information and educational materials allowed me to better understand my risk and allow me to find a new property in a timely manner and save over $ 200,000.00” (GW, Shavertown, PA, 2015).

During the period from 2010 to 2011 – the following are the states with the most “Meth Lab” busts:  Missouri, Tennessee , Indiana , Kentucky, Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

We are in pre-launch on this service.  During pre-launch we are offering to complete compile this report for a fee of only $ 55.00.   After pre-launch and website design, we think the final cost will be $ 75 and up.  Neighboorhood Hazard Reports

2. Contact Mr. Brian Oram at the Keystone Clean Water Team (KCWT) at cleanwater@carbonwaters.org and provide the mailing address for the property, your contact information, email address, and phone number.   We can provide this service for the USA.  For some areas, we may need more information.

Terms and Conditions

1. Reports do not meet the terms and conditions of an environmental audit for real estate translations.
2. Reports can not be resold and the copyright will be maintained by the Keystone Clean Water Team.
3. Any analyses, estimates, ratings or risk codes provided in this Report are provided for illustrative purposes only, and are not intended to provide, nor should they be interpreted as providing any facts regarding, or prediction or forecast of, any environmental risk for any property. Only a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment performed by an environmental professional can provide information regarding the environmental risk for any property. This Report is not a replacement for a home inspection. This Report does not provide information pertaining to the interior of the target property such as, but not limited to: mold, asbestos, lead, radon or other issues. Additionally, the information provided in this Report is not to be construed as legal advice.
4. This report contains certain information described herein pertaining solely to the exterior of the target property, which information was obtained from a variety of public and other sources reasonably available to the database search company. The company. does not produce, maintain or verify the information contained in these sources; and assumes, without independent investigation, that the information in such sources is accurate and complete.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. KCWT’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests, posting articles on social media, or assisting with a local event !

For more information, please go to KCWT’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!

Private Well Owners Workshop in Luzerne County Pennsylvania

We ARE What We Drink !
Learning More About Our Water In Northeast Pennsylvania

A private well owner workshop designed to educate and protect citizens from common and potential contaminants. Join us for a great day of education and an opportunity to test a sample of your own well water (pH and a few other parameters).

Saturday, July 27,2013
10:00AM –12:00PM

9:00AM –9:45AM
Check-in & Family Nature Walk •
The Educational Workshop is free!
• All children are welcome to attend as well!
• Please bring a sample of your tap water to the workshop for an initial pH test!

Workshop Sessions:

10:00 AM Your Water: The Contaminants You Can’t See! presented by Brian Oram, B.F. Environmental Consultants  (PDF version of presentation)

11:00 AM Protecting Your Water: Taking the First Step presented by Brian Oram, B.F. Environmental Consultants  (PDF version of presentation)

11:45PM Test your well water’s pH and a few other factors

Limit of 40 attendees—Pre-registration is required by July 19th. Brian Oram’s attendance is made possible by the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians.

The mission of the Luzerne Conservation District is to conserve land and water resources in Luzerne County by promoting public awareness, providing technical assistance, and encouraging regulatory compliance.  (PDF Document for Event)- Other outreach in Luzerne County, PA

Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.  Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organiazation).