News

Stormwater Education Coordinator Sierra Stickney (Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps member) was out in the field last week, making sure stormwater projects were working for clean water.

On March 3, she visited Havelock High School where a recently installed underground rainwater harvesting cistern needed some pump repair — the water was not flowing from the cistern to the spigot in the school’s greenhouse. Two check valves and a pipe adjustment by installers Rainwater Solutions later, the problem had not been resolved, which required another visit on March 11.

“This time, Rainstorm moved the pump closer to the tank,” Sierra said. “They believe the distance from the cistern to the pump is what was causing the issue. The system was tested and the pressure was maintained with water flowing as it should. A great success!”

At West Craven Middle School, Sierra tackled a leak from the passive drawdown device on an above-the-ground rainwater harvesting cistern.

“When the device was first installed, the hole we made was slightly too large, but we thought the seal would hold. It ultimately did not,” Sierra said.

On March 7, Sierra made the fix with a seal replacement, plumbers’ tape and a sealant.

“(Program Director Clay Barber) and I will be back at West Craven Middle School soon to install an external pump, and we’ll be checking that this issue is resolved,” she said.

These projects are part of Sound Rivers’ Campus Stormwater Program which assesses stormwater issues, creates a plan and installs green stormwater infrastructure projects, such as rain gardens and constructed wetlands, on school campuses across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico. More than 39 installations have been completed, which treat and filter more than 15 million gallons of stormwater per year.

Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps is a service program of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, funded by a grant through the North Carolina Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism.

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