On June 3rd a group met in New Orleans for the fourth workshop in the Stormwater Series. In this workshop we went over the data we are hoping to collect in next month and set up the monitoring project.

Earth Lab:

At the Earth Lab site we set up a time lapse camera behind the bioswale. The hope is that in larger rain events we'll be able to capture images of the overflow from the stormwater tank into the bioswale. Our gauge boards had not come in yet, but we identified that at this site we will put one in the bioswale itself so the timelapse camera will face it capturing one photo every hour.

We also put up a rain gauge on the fence of the Earth Lab which the students will record on every week day starting next week through to July and potentially August.

Spain/Rampart:

Since the Spain/Rampart site is so close to the Earth Lab, and since there there is tree cover over the site, we decided that we would use the rain data from the Earth Lab site. We were also concerned about putting a time lapse camera out at this as we didn't have any private property access to put one up and were worried about its placement and it being stolen. So what we've decided to do instead, is that when we do site surveys each day, the students will take a gauge board with them and photograph it in the same spot on the curb (where the puddle forms) each day.

Villere:

At the Villere site we were able to get permission from two property owners, one at the house where we've observed the largest puddle, this is where we've now set up the second rain gauge, and the other in the house across the street from it, where we've now set up the second time lapse camera. We will be going out on Wednesday the 13th and will set up a gauge board in the puddle on a telephone pole. The game camera points in this direction.

Other monitoring

We outlined what we'll be looking for in each site survey and have since set up a monitoring form, online form, photo repository, weather underground data form, and ISeeChange links for each site. All the data for the project will be captured on this wiki.