Conservation Landscaping

Landscaping practice greatly impacts what ends up in our lakes and rivers. Everyone who has land, no matter how much or how little, influences the state of our water bodies, for better or for worse. Ways to improve what gets to the end include reducing the amount of impermeable surface, decreasing or slowing the flow of runoff, and improving the quality of surface water before it enters the stormwater system and our rivers and lakes. 

Intertwined with measures that benefit stormwater are many other landscaping practices that strengthen ecosystem function. Some examples include: 

• rain gardens view Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corp's great fact sheet on rain gardens
• use of indigenous vegetation and materials such as mulch, landscaping rock, etc
• xeriscaping (plants that thrive without irrigation)
• absorbent landscaping (thicker soil depth, recommended is 12 inches or 300 mm)
• view CMHC's geat fact sheet on conserving water around your yard
• avoiding the use of water-loving kentucky bluegrass, the typical lawn grass used in Alberta
  view CMHC's great fact sheet on low-maintenance lawns
• bioretention areas
• permeable pavement
• bio/vegetated swales
• green roofs
  CMHC's Municipal Policy Maker Guide Book
  CMHC's Design Guidelines for Green Roofs
• integrating stormwater management plans to irrigate landscaping areas (e.g. parking lot designed to drain to vegetated islands)