Water
Managing Water Impacts on Your Property
Water management including occasional flooding is already a consideration for many property owners across Sanibel and Captiva. The effects of climate change, including expected increases in heavy rain events, likely means even more home and business owners will be searching for options to help manage excess water in their yards and across their landscaping. While the following strategies are not suited for dealing with sources of flooding like the record storm surge our communities saw during Hurricane Ian, they may be useful for addressing impacts of minor flooding on people’s properties associated with more regularly-occurring rain events, especially when multiple strategies are adopted.
Links & Resources
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Construct a rain barrel system to catch excess rainwater (Note: overflow hardware is recommended for rain barrels, especially in response to particularly heavy rain events)
Possible websites:
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Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens: A Guide for Harvesting Rainwater – Guide created for Fort Myers Beach
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Create a rain garden on your property to help slow the flow of stormwater, encourage the removal of pollutants, and give local wildlife a boost. Interested property owners can confer with SCCF’s Native Landscapes and Garden Center, and the City of Sanibel Natural Resources Department for more information on appropriate plant species, especially if the resources below are tailored to different geographical areas.
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Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens: A Guide for Harvesting Rainwater – Guide created for Fort Myers Beach
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Plants in rain gardens need to withstand both wet conditions and dry spells. This Check out this brochure, this website, page 13 of the rain barrel and rain garden guide developed for Fort Myers Beach, and the Cape Coral littoral plant guide for some guidance on appropriate native species.
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Permeable surfaces may allow more water to percolate into the ground on your property and reduce the amount of polluted stormwater runoff entering our waterways
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Section of City of Sanibel Land Development Code that describes development regulations according to ecological zone. For most ecological zones, allowable impermeable surface will be described under item “(g) coverage” within the “required conditions” section.
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Section of City of Sanibel Land Development Code that describes how coverage of permeable surfaces for a property is determined
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Tree Planting can help manage stormwater
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International Society of Arboriculture’s “Trees Are Good” tree care essentials webpage
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City Forests & Water – UF/IFAS Extension information on how trees can help manage stormwater
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Trees to Offset Stormwater: website with case studies including of several Florida cities, and focused on the capacity of trees to reduce stormwater
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Tree Planning and Planting Campaigns: A Guide for Reforesting Cities and Towns
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This article by the City of Sanibel’s Vegetation Committee highlights a few of the native shade trees in our barrier islands.
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Explore ways to hurricane-proof your landscaping