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Members of the Woodstock Department of Public Works at the Palmer Arboretum. They are providing the labor and equipment for the drainage fix at the arboretum.
This photo courtesy of Bill Brower
Overflow basin, left side of arboretum
Jean Pillo, David Faist
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
WOODSTOCK --- Drawing on grant money --- and the kindness of a parcel of volunteers --- the long-standing drainage problems at the Palmer Arboretum were solved this week.
Jean Pillo, watershed conservation coordinator of the Eastern Connecticut Conservation District said a federal Environmental Protection Clean Water Act grant, administered through the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, will be used to manage and filter stormwater in three locations in Woodstock, including the Palmer Memorial Hall/Arboretum, the Woodstock Town Hall and possibly Roseland Park, using “rain gardens.”
Grant funding totals about $32,000 for the three projects. In less than a week, the drainage problems at the arboretum were solved. A rain garden will also be installed to further filter runoff. Currently, Bill Brower, chairman of the arboretum’s board, said water rushes down the driveway/parking lot, jumps the curb and continues down the hilly side of the arboretum, taking soil and plants with it.
The arboretum is in a drainage basin, or watershed, that drains to Roseland Lake and that flows into Little River, a source of drinking water in Putnam. Pillo said in 2009 the district compiled a watershed plan for the Little River, Muddy Brook and Roseland. It showed runoff to be a large problem. "It's important to help protect Putnam's drinking water supply," she said.
David Faist of Woodstock, who owns David Faist Engineering of Sturbridge, and Kim Kelly, former Windham County Master Gardener coordinator, donated their services. In addition, Woodstock's Department of Public Works donated labor and machinery. The rain garden, which will be dedicated June 8, is also being supported by the historical society, in memory of Doug Zimmerman, a long-time member of the Historical Society who died suddenly in 2010.
Eight to 10 feet of the back of the parking lot was dug up and gravel and filtering soil were installed, along with a larger drain. There is now large underdrain piping that will help direct the water away from the arboretum slope. If the rains are heavy enough, the flow will be split and part will go to a stone-lined overflow basin on the north side of the arboretum. The four parking spaces that will be lost to the project will come back as six parking spaces because the parking lot area closer to the historical society's Palmer Hall is wider.
The drainage system and the rain garden coming shortly will slow down and filter the runoff. Plants come later in the season. The grant will also fund rain gardens at Roseland Park and Town Hall, Pillo said.