June 15, 2016 – The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) is pleased to announce Woodstock’s first Low Impact Development (LID) demonstration project, being installed at Pittock Conservation Area! LID is an innovative stormwater management approach that manages rainfall close to where it lands.

Alison Regehr, Conservation Services Technician at the UTRCA, says, “This week, we’re establishing a biofilter, consisting of four cascading filtration areas, at Pittock Conservation Area. These are small, simple designs and cost-effective landscape features that should improve water quality and reduce the amount of stormwater going into the Thames River.”

Educational signage will be erected to inform conservation area users about this new technique for improving watershed health. The project site was selected because it is a highly visible area near the playground.

Who: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, Pittock Campers Association

What: Installing a biofilter to demonstrate Low Impact Development. The biofilter will filter water runoff from agricultural fields before it reaches the Thames River. Low Impact Development provides new solutions to infiltrate, filter, store and evaporate stormwater runoff.

When: Friday, June 17^th, 10:30 am

Where: Pittock Conservation Area, between Campground Section 1 and 2 (by the playground), 221 Pittock Park Road, Woodstock

Funding: Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund through the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), RBC Bluewater Fund

Find out more about Low Impact Development.

Contact: Alison Regehr, Conservation Services Technician, or Steve Sauder, Marketing Specialist