It might be hard to believe, but at one point in time, San Mateo County was a completely undeveloped landscape.

Although our forests, creeks, and shorelines are still immensely beautiful, over time, we have turned much of our natural landscape into a built environment through urban development. In doing so, our ability to capture and utilize rainfall has been diminished. This is a serious challenge for our community because periods of intense storming on developed land often lead to increased stormwater runoff and pollution that can threaten environmental and public health. 

But, what if we could create a balance between nature and urban development? This is the beauty of green infrastructure. It offers a new sustainable approach to how we manage stormwater in our built environment. Keep reading to learn about the many uses of green infrastructure!

Getting Creative with Green Infrastructure

There are many types of green infrastructure and it can be used at different scales, from backyards to sidewalks to entire ecosystems, like wetlands that buffer against tides and erosion. When we refer to green infrastructure as it relates to stormwater management, the focus is on engineered facilities designed to help us capture, store, and treat rain that falls on our buildings, streets, and other areas in our urban environment, using special soils and plants that filter, absorb, and evapotranspire water, mimicking a more natural water cycle.

City, County, and State-Level Green Infrastructure

At the city or county scale, green infrastructure is a collection of natural areas that provide benefits such as habitat, shade, flood protection, and cleaner air and water (see the Green Infrastructure Factsheet, for a quick overview of the benefits). Examples may include the preservation and restoration of natural landscapes such as wetlands and creeks.

Neighborhood-Level Green Infrastructure

At the neighborhood or property scale, green infrastructure can look like rain gardens, permeable pavements, green roofs, bioswales, trees, and rainwater harvesting systems such as rain barrels and cisterns. These green infrastructure features can be incorporated into schools, yards, new housing developments, parks, streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and nearly anywhere else you can imagine in our urban environment.

Where have you seen green infrastructure in your community?

Green Infrastructure Projects in San Mateo County

Flows to Bay’s Green Infrastructure Story Map features green infrastructure projects in the public realm within a variety of settings, including streets, building sites, and lots, which municipalities have built over the past several years showing progress toward integrating infrastructure enhancements and shifting stormwater infrastructure from “gray” to “green.” In San Mateo County, “sustainable streets” are multi-benefit projects designed to improve street conditions for walkability, cycling, urban greening, climate resiliency, and water quality.

C/CAG recently funded ten Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and Green Streets Infrastructure Pilot Projects, which were intended to show the cost efficiencies and multiple community benefits of integrating bike and pedestrian improvements with green stormwater infrastructure. This map will continue to be updated as more green infrastructure projects are built throughout the County, as the municipalities work towards building a more resilient and sustainable stormwater system.

If you are interested in using green infrastructure to reduce stormwater pollution on your property and in your community, we’re happy to share that there is at least $300 available to you in a rebate to help you transform your yard into a sustainable rain garden with gorgeous native plants that attract local pollinators. If you have not yet accessed Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency’s (BAWSCA) Lawn Be Gone! rebate with rain garden addition, get started today! You can learn more about next steps on our Rain Gardens & Rebates page.

If you are looking for additional tips, make sure to check out these resource links, sample design plans, webinar recording, and informational videos for everything you need to know about rain garden design, construction, and maintenance!

Remember, stormwater pollution prevention starts with you! We encourage you to explore the numerous pages and resources (including this 5-part video series) about green infrastructure that are available on the Flows To Bay website at no cost. No matter how big or small your actions are, we are so thankful that you are a part of this community and this movement to prevent stormwater pollution in our lovely county.

Have questions or ideas you’d like to share about how to reduce stormwater pollution in your community? Flows To Bay is here to help! Please reach out and we’ll gladly do what we can to support you.

Hurrah for Another Successful Rain Barrel Distribution Event

Thanks to the hundreds of San Mateo residents who participated in our bulk rain barrel program this year, our third annual Rain Barrel Distribution Event was undoubtedly the best one yet! The event took place in the City of San Mateo on Saturday, November 4th, and around 180 community members attended the drive-thru event to conveniently pick up their pre-ordered 50-gallon rain barrels. This tremendous feat would not have been possible without our exceptional team and our wonderful partners, the City of San Mateo and Rainwater Solutions.

Meet One of the Heroes of the Rain Barrel Movement

We connected with Allison B. from Redwood City to learn more about her experience joining the rain barrel movement. Allison immediately reflected on how her new rainwater harvesting project relates to stormwater pollution prevention in her community. Living in the hills of Redwood City, she fared pretty well in the intense storms last year. But, due to highly saturated soils, she noted that most of the rain they received turned into runoff that transported harmful pollutants into local waterways:

“We have a view of the bay and can see the bay waters change from blue to brown after the big storms. While our two rain barrels won’t change that, it is important for all of us to try to do the little things that we can do, like recycling, using fewer chemicals, conserving water, and installing rain barrels! Every little bit helps.”

AlLISON b., rEDWOOD CITY

Indeed, every action that our community takes, no matter how large or small, can help us protect our precious waterways. The residents who participated in this year’s campaign and distribution event serve as an incredible example of what we can achieve together. The 297 rain barrels purchased this year through the program can capture nearly 15,000 gallons of stormwater during a single storm event and prevent it from transporting harmful pollutants into our streets, storm drains, and local waterways! And better yet, if we trend back to drought conditions, those barrels have conserved gallons of water to use.

We followed up with Allison about how her new rain barrels fit into her current landscaping design. She plans to use the harvested water to irrigate her yard in the dry season, and in particular, the south-facing native landscaping, which although drought-tolerant, still needs a lot of water because of the sun exposure. Although it can often feel like a drop in a bucket, every ounce of water she captures with these new barrels and uses to water her landscaping will help conserve precious potable water for our region.

It’s Your Turn to Join the Rain Barrel Movement in SMC!

Each time a resident like Allison installs a rain barrel on their property, they are making a positive impact on our local water quality and water supply. By taking this initiative, they are also joining a movement of neighbors who care about human and environmental health and have an important role to play in keeping our community resilient in a changing climate. All of us at Flows To Bay are so thankful for each and every one of you who supports water conservation and pollution prevention in San Mateo County.

Once you install your discounted barrel(s), we encourage you to place yourself on the Rain Barrel Map (pictured below) to officially join the rain barrel movement! If you’re absolutely loving your new rain barrel setup, we also welcome you to share your story and pictures with us by filling out our Water-Wise Home Project Form. We’d love to feature your project and share it with other San Mateo County residents.

If you were unable to participate in this year’s bulk discount event, you can still purchase a rain barrel from Rainwater Solutions or a local supplier and apply for BAWSCA’s rain barrel rebate! Please keep in mind that Flows To Bay does not endorse any specific company or brand. You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about our next sale!

Get Prepared for the Stormy Season

There are many ways to help prevent stormwater pollution besides installing rain barrels on your property. Here are some simple actions you can take this winter to help keep our community safe.

Sandbags

Sandbags offer a simple and cost-effective way to prevent flood damage. In the event of a flood, you can use sandbags to help divert water around your home or business. San Mateo County Public Works offers up to 15 pre-made sandbags at no cost to residents of unincorporated areas. Many other cities in the county offer sandbags to community members. Be sure to look up your city’s public works online to get more information about the resources that are available to you.

Be mindful of pesticide use on rainy days

At Flows To Bay, we believe in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) – a strategy that emphasizes less-toxic control solutions that have the least environmental impact to keep pests at acceptable, low-levels. If you opt to use pesticides to manage your garden, try to choose the least-toxic product available and don’t apply them outdoors when rain is predicted as it can wash these chemicals off of your property and into our local waterways.

Store HHW in a secure location

Do not store household hazardous waste – chemical wastes and materials typically used within a household such as paints, cleaning solutions, oil, batteries, and pesticides – in locations where flooding is possible or where rain or runoff can reach these items.

Remember, stormwater pollution prevention starts with you! These are just a few ways that you can help protect the health of our community and beautiful environment. We encourage you to explore the numerous pages and resources about stormwater pollution prevention that are available on the Flows To Bay website at no cost. Perhaps you would enjoy learning about successful schoolyard greening projects, the ins and outs of green infrastructure, or how to design your own sustainably-stylish rain garden! No matter how big or small your actions are, we are so thankful that you are a part of this community and this movement to prevent stormwater pollution in our lovely county.

Have questions or ideas you’d like to share about how to reduce stormwater pollution in your community? Flows To Bay is here to help! Reach out to Flows To Bay and we’ll gladly do what we can to support you.

From the towering redwood forests to shorelines teeming with wildlife, our beloved San Mateo County is truly a rich and diverse landscape. Whether you live bayside or by the sea, there is no doubt that we all cherish this special place we call home.

As precious as it is, one of the biggest threats to our natural environment is our overconsumption of single-use plastics. Despite our best intentions, these products often end up in our local waterways where they can reduce water quality, harm local wildlife, and damage human health when ingested by the fish we eat. This is why it is so important for all of us to be stewards of our environment, and do what we can to establish a litter-free San Mateo County.

Luckily, there are actions you can take today and any day to help preserve our environment and keep our communities healthy and safe!

Coastal Cleanup Day 2023

Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual statewide waterway and land cleanup held on the third Saturday of every September. It’s the state’s largest annual volunteer event and an excellent opportunity for all of us to come together as a community to remove trash from our environment before the winter storms come along and transport it into our waterways, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.

Since 1985, over 1.6 million volunteers across the state have collected over 26 million pounds of trash! But this event is about more than just removing trash from our environment. The data that we collect from Coastal Cleanup Day has served a critical role in shaping groundbreaking legislation such as the single-use plastic bag ban that California passed in 2016. Since that time, we have observed a major decrease in the percentage of plastic bags found on beaches during Coastal Cleanup Day, which begs the question: What other single-use plastics can we get banned through collective action?

This year, The California Coastal Commission announced that the 39th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will be held on Saturday, September 23, 2023, from 9am to Noon. Please visit https://www.smchealth.org/general-information/coastal-cleanup-day-2023 to learn about the 30+ clean-up locations you can volunteer at in San Mateo County and register with a team.

Can’t make it that morning? You can still participate in Coastal Cleanup Day by cleaning up your neighborhood any time throughout the month of September. Stormwater runoff can transport plastic waste and other pollutants from our neighborhoods into our local waterways at a very fast rate, so you can still make a huge impact on water quality and marine health by staying local.

This event also serves as a reminder that we are overusing and discarding way too much trash into our environment each year. Participating in Coastal Cleanup Day is an easy way to help remedy the problem, but the real solution is for all of us to consider how we can reduce how much plastic waste we produce every day.

At Flows To Bay, Zero Waste Is The Way

Zero waste is a process and a philosophy that involves a redesign of products and consumption in a way that all material goods can be reused or recycled—or not discarded at all. This approach champions actions we can take to avoid using the single-use plastics that we often find washing up on our beautiful coastline.

Recycling is often celebrated as one of the best environmental actions that we can take as individuals. While it’s still important to recycle whenever possible, refusing to use products, reducing our consumption, and reusing materials often have a larger positive impact on our environment.

Refuse

The best thing you can do to have an impact on plastic waste reduction is to simply refuse to use single-use plastics whenever possible. This may seem challenging at first, but with some basic preparation, it can become fairly easy. By saying “no thanks” to free disposable items and carrying your own reusable items such as grocery bags, a water bottle, and cutlery, you can make a huge difference!

Reduce

The less we consume, the less we waste! Although it may seem obvious, we can find great power in reducing the amount of items we own and choose to buy going forward. More often than not, we don’t end up using these items as we originally intended to and they can end up as waste in our landfills and on our beaches.

Reuse

Although we should all strive to refuse and reduce whenever we can, there will always be a need for us to consume. In these moments, reusing is what we can do to extend the usefulness of the products we consume before they are discarded. This can be a very fun and creative activity, such as repairing clothing or turning an empty pasta jar into a vase for your flowers.

Support Local Businesses!

Another great way to contribute to waste reduction is to support local sustainable businesses that are working to make a zero-waste and plastic-free lifestyle easier for all San Mateo County residents. Check out a few highlights below!

• Reusable San Mateo County is currently piloting reusable takeout containers with several eateries in Burlingame.
• Byrd’s Filling Station is a sustainable grocery store that sells reusable containers and offers bulk refill services to completely cut single-use plastic out of the picture. Read our blog from last year to learn more about their incredible story.
• Okapi Reusables partners with local cafes to offer reusable cups that keep your drink hotter or colder longer and minimize environmental impact.

Remember, stormwater pollution prevention starts with you! There are so many ways that you can help reduce single-use plastic waste in our community. You can volunteer at Coastal Cleanup Day, take our litter pledge, support one of the sustainable businesses listed above, or decide to make one small and simple change in your lifestyle to contribute to waste reduction in San Mateo County. Zero waste may be the goal, but when many of us collectively reduce our waste just a little bit, we can achieve so much more than we ever thought was possible.

Have questions or ideas you’d like to share about how to reduce waste in your community? Flows To Bay is here to help! Reach out to Flows To Bay and we’ll gladly do what we can to support you.

Although Earth Day has passed, we should always be working to make our communities more sustainable and resilient to change. At Flows To Bay, we view every day as Earth day since every day is an opportunity to conserve water and keep our beautiful waterways pollution-free!

Even as we transition from a record wet season to warmer and drier months, stormwater pollution and landscape runoff can still threaten the health of our local creeks, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. This is because water that flows from our buildings and lawns can transport harmful pollutants such as litter and animal waste from our urban landscape down our untreated storm drains and into our local waterways. Luckily, rain barrels and rain gardens are great ways to capture and manage runoff before it reaches our storm drains and can damage our local waterways and the precious organisms that depend on them.

Schools happen to be perfect locations to integrate these rainwater harvesting features that serve to save water, reduce runoff, and improve stormwater quality in our urban environment. Click here to learn more about Flows To Bay’s efforts to create rainwater resilient schools in partnership with the San Mateo County Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Partnership Network.

On March 25th, Flows To Bay partnered with Each Green Corner and a local Rainwater Harvesting Specialist named Chris Corvetti to install a daisy chain rain barrel system at Central Middle School (CMS) in San Carlos. The project served as an opportunity for the community to come together to learn hands-on about the rain barrel installation process and for the school to increase their capacity to capture stormwater and prevent stormwater pollution.

Central Middle School’s Daisy Chain Rain Barrel Installation

Ten enthusiastic community volunteers attended the hands-on workshop. The skill level varied tremendously within the group, but the beauty of the event was how accessible it was for anyone who just wants to learn the basics about rain barrels and how to install them properly. In fact, there was even one fourth grade student who participated!

This workshop is a great example of what Flows To Bay can organize for other schools in the county, so let’s take a deeper look at each step of the installation process.

Learning the Basics

The first step of the workshop was making sure that all of the attendees were up to speed. So, our amazing rainwater harvesting specialist Chris gave a brief presentation on stormwater pollution and the basic anatomy of rain barrel systems.

Chris explained how rain barrels function to help us prevent stormwater pollution. Then, she introduced all of the components that come with the BlueBarrel DIY-RainKit that we would be using to set up the new system at Central Middle School. BlueBarrel’s rain barrel system is particularly affordable and sustainable because it’s made from repurposed 55-gallon barrels.

If you are interested in purchasing a BlueBarrel DIY-RainKit for your home or school, don’t forget to use Flows To Bay’s promo code to get 10% off! Make sure to also check out our rain barrel and rebate page to see if you are eligible for up to $200 in rebates through the Countywide Rain Barrel Rebate Program and Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA).

Plumbing Skills

After we covered the basics, it was time to get to work! Chris showed us how to cut PVC pipes and glue them to the repurposed BlueBarrels so we could create the daisy chain system.

BlueBarrel’s daisy chain system allows you to easily connect as many barrels as you want to each other so there is no limit to the amount of storage capacity that you can install! Although it may seem complex, the system is actually very simple. When water flowing from your downspout (think: gutter) fills up the first barrel, the extra water flows through the overflow hole on the bottom and into the next barrel. You can learn more about how this system works on their website.

This simple yet powerful system allowed us to set up four 55-gallon rain barrels, with a total storage capacity of 220 gallons of water!

Heavy Lifting Before Lunch

Once we set up the plumbing, we moved the rain barrels from the school’s courtyard to their final home next to our chosen rain gutter and above a nearby planter box.

Then it was time for lunch! To reward everyone for their hard work, Flows To Bay brought sandwiches, snacks and beverages for all of the attendees.

Creating A Drip Irrigation System

After lunch, we all got our hands dirty and spent some time removing weeds from the planter adjacent to the rain barrels. You can really see just how much we removed in the images below.

The next item on the agenda was to create an automatic drip irrigation system that feeds overflow water from the rain barrels into the nearby planter of fig trees. First, we configured the rain barrels to a flow controller and pump with an automatic timer that will make it easy for students at the school to water the planter on a regular basis.

Next, we cut a gardening hose and attached it to the barrels to create the drip irrigation system that feeds into the planters (see the black piping in the image on the right).

At Flows To Bay, every day is Earth day.

Next Steps at CMS

The installation was a great success, but the work does not stop there! Each Green Corner, who donated the 4 barrels we installed during this event, will continue to work with the school to install mulch and additional plants in the nearby planter.

That’s all it takes! The result of our combined efforts was a newly installed daisy chain rain barrel system that has the potential to harvest over 8,000 gallons of water over the course of a year and feeds overflow water into the garden right next to it. Central Middle School will benefit tremendously from this addition of green infrastructure that can help capture, clean and absorb stormwater runoff on campus.

Even though Flows To Bay helped organize the event, this was truly a hands-on workshop, so we want to give a special shout out to all of the residents who attended and made this installation possible. You all demonstrate just how much our community shows up and embraces every day as earth day.

Stormwater pollution prevention starts with you! Not sure where you or your school should start? Flows To Bay is here to help! Reach out to Flows To Bay and we’ll help you get set up with a rain barrel or rain garden project on your campus.