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Q&A
DEP's approach to rain garden maintenance and assessment
1:02:40
·
3 min
Council Member Gennaro inquires about DEP's maintenance practices for rain gardens, including litter removal and vegetation management. Deputy Commissioner Licata explains the department's data-driven approach to assessing and maintaining rain gardens, including cleaning, vegetation replacement, and addressing community-specific challenges.
- DEP teams visit rain gardens every 4-6 weeks for cleaning and assessment
- Teams manage litter, assess vegetation health, and determine if plants need replacement
- DEP analyzes patterns of trash accumulation and works with Sanitation Department to address broader litter issues
- Vegetation trimming and replanting typically occur in spring and fall
James F. Gennaro
1:02:40
Back to back to DEP.
1:02:45
And it's talking about managing the green infrastructure.
1:02:49
We strive to keep our rain I'm I'm reading.
1:02:51
We strive to keep our rain gardens healthy and performing by visiting rain gardens every four to six weeks.
1:02:58
And then there's this whole data driven thing where you try to, like, figure all that out.
1:03:05
And when the team, which I assume is a DEP team, goes to the, you know, goes to the rain garden.
1:03:17
Now litter is removed from it when when that when you go and visit the visit the rain garden, or do they just make an assessment of it?
1:03:26
Like like, what happens when the team goes to the rain garden?
Angela Licata
1:03:30
When they're deployed, they're managing by cleaning, and then they're also assessing for vegetation, what plants may need to be replaced.
James F. Gennaro
1:03:41
Yeah.
1:03:41
Because you're getting ahead of me because the because, like, the rain garden sometimes become, like, six foot tall weeds, and shame on the homeowner for not I mean, come on.
1:03:53
This is this thing's in front of your house.
1:03:55
You got six feet tall weeds?
1:03:57
And so that's that's some people just like to be neglectful, and they're they're they're comfortable with that.
1:04:08
And so so your folks go to the site, pull out garbage, which is unsightly, and with regard to managing the height of the flora that's there, do they do they cut it and make a note that maybe there should be other flora in here instead of the weeds that have taken over from the flora that was planted when it was first created as a rain garden?
1:04:35
How does all that work?
Angela Licata
1:04:40
Questions.
1:04:40
I'm so happy to be able to answer them now because we are in the part of the program where we've been building assets for over ten years, and we are assessing in a very analytical way what is the rain garden potentially in need of.
1:05:00
Are we experiencing a tremendous amount of trash and why is that?
1:05:05
Is it potentially located next to a bus stop?
1:05:08
What else may be going on?
1:05:10
What could we do with sanitation to be able to maybe address the street more routinely because, as you know, the rain garden would not be the only place where the litter would be observed.
1:05:22
Generally speaking, it's in an area where there's also a lot of litter on the adjacent roadway.
1:05:28
So we've been in discussions with them.
1:05:30
In regards to vegetation, that's exactly what we do.
1:05:34
We look at what trimming is needed and what planting, where we generally have the opportunity to do that in the spring and the fall because that's when plants like to be pruned, and that's when plants generally like to be replanted or planted for the first time.
1:05:52
Seeding can also happen.
1:05:54
In some locations we determine whether or not that planting palate's appropriate.
1:05:59
Maybe it needs to be modified.
1:06:01
So we're also taking note of that and triaging that.
1:06:06
And then in the most extreme cases, does that rain garden sit well within that particular community?
1:06:14
We have some business districts where a rain garden may be under attack, which is the way I look at it because there's a lot of commercial activity there.
1:06:23
It's a rough go for a particular rain garden.
1:06:26
So the idea would be maybe that needs to be more of an infiltration basin.
1:06:31
The thing about what we observe from the street