As the Marcellus Shale gas "play" develops in Pennsylvania, regulators and politicians debate what to do with the waste water produced as a by-product of drilling. PA DEP released a "Permitting Strategy for High Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Wastewater Discharges" last April. That Strategy called for using "available assimilative capacity of receiving streams where that is feasible" (i.e. dilution) until January, 2011. At that time new regulations with tighter limits on the amount of TDS that can be discharged to streams, would go into effect. The regulations are being developed now, and a Task Force has been established to discuss the proposed tighter TDS limits. The Task Force meetings and minutes are on the DEP website.
    Meanwhile, in California, Governor Schwarzenegger has just signed into law AB 1366, that would give local water and wastewater agencies more power to ban salt-regenerated residential water softeners.  Water Tech On-line covers the topic.
     Water softeners are a source of TDS in domestic wastewater, and are pointed to as reason NOT to tighten TDS limits in wastewater discharges.

As activities gear up with WREN funding for non-point source education grants, rain gardens and workshops are being planned across the state.

In Bucks County, Doylestown Township, Delaware Valley College and Bucks Co. Conservation District are partnering in a student design contest for a rain garden to be installed on the college campus. A workshop for homeowners at the completed garden site will follow.

Mary Ellen Noonan, Environmental Educator at the  Bucks County Conservation District is no stranger to rain gardens.  Her Powerpoint program on rain gardens describes how to build a rain garden and includes several before and after pictures.

East Fallowfield Township in Chester County will be installing seven demonstration rain gardens, primarily retrofits of stormwater facilities, in the township park and and holding a series of homeowner workshops on BMPs such as rain barrels and rain gardens. 

                   This low, wet spot will be planted in the Spring


The Borough of New Berlin in Union County will boast 

With a little bit of money- in this case a WREN Opportunity Grant -  Susan Harris at the Montgomery County Conservation Districtdeveloped three posters to explain easy, attractive solutions to homeowner stormwater problems. The Rain Gardens poster is shown at left, to view the Stormwater Basin Retrofit, and Landscaping with Native Plants posters, visit WREN Posters.

Informational signs are an important part of rain garden education: 

Warrington Township
Naturalized Detention Basin Sign.
A WREN 2008-09 grant.




Barrett-Paradise Friendly Library
Rain Garden Sign. 
A WREN 2009 Opportunity Grant.

Visit WREN signs for larger images.