Fresh water is a precious global commodity. But like many cities, here in Chicago, we waste more than 20 billion gallons of groundwater a year.
When rainwater from the sky can’t be absorbed into the ground, it’s washed into storm drains. This water runoff degrades the quality of water in our rivers and lakes. It increases flooding, and leads to overflows of sewers — sometimes into Lake Michigan.
Natural groundcover acts like a sponge—sucking up the water and filtering it clean. But pavement and conventional turf grass bounce the water off.
Today, as part of our Chicago Matters: Growing Forward series we’re going to visit a home in Elmhurst, IL that’s been redesigned to prevent water run-off.
Marcus de la Fleur is a Landscape Architect, originally from Germany. He rents a home in Elmhurst from Ben Rush. Marcus and Ben have torn up their turf grass and pavement — and replaced them with rain gardens, gravel grass, porous pavement, and a green roof.
Marcus and Ben took us on a tour of their home and Ben explained how they got started…
