Wetland Flood Absoprtion Demo?

You may recall this factoid from our wetlands discussion: One acre of wetland can absorb up to 1.5 million gallons of flood water. After a few back-of-the-napkin calculations, I estimate that that 1.5 million gallons over an acre works out to be a water depth of about 1.4 m (4.5 ft.). Not bad! My question is this: is there anyway we could demonstrate this in (or out of) the classroom? It'd make for a really impressive demo if we could. Thoughts? Ideas?

VT Watershed Science, Education and Leadership: Stormwater Engineering & Management

Here are the links I was talking about in response to Nancy's post about Stormwater Management...

http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/epo/PDFfiles/OneRoof.pdf
http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/epo/EnvironmentalServicesEpoRainBarrel.aspx
http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/epo/EnvironmentalServicesEpoRainGarden.aspx

Doing the research for the stream restoration project, Donna and I found the process to be much more detailed than we originally thought. We hope our powerpoint and guidelines will be helpful for those interested in either doing their own stream restoration project in their neighborhood, or in integrating a stream restoration project into their curriculum.

As you will remember from my lovely back yard as witnessed at the cookout following the 'field trip' to Lake Accotink, small steps by homeowners can make a big difference in the health of an urban stream. The Park Service recommends that homeowners whose yards contain or abutt a stream rake leaves to the stream bank rather than bagging them, and pile any sticks shed from trees in said leaf piles. This provides a place for amphibians and snakes (augh!) to hybernate, and keeps the material out of our landfills. Plus it is much easier to rake stuff downhill than constantly stopping to bag.

We enjoyed our walks in the woods with all, and hope that we can keep in touch with both our cohort and you newbies!

Sincerely,
Donna and Nancy