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This video was shot at Blake Garden on November 2 during the first heavy rain of the season. It shows the impact of urban run-off on the daylighted part of the creek which runs through the Garden. The first shots are of water running down Rincon Road and into the culverts just outside the front gate. Next we go inside the garden to observe where and how the water comes in. There’s a shot of garden volunteer extrordinaire Natasha observing the water rushing in under the fence. She had just cleared out the blackberries around this area earlier in the week, and she is standing above a scour pool.

It’s a bit of a mystery (for now) about what happens to the water from here, as more berries still need to be cleared. Water also enters on to the property and shoots under the fence by the Head House.

From there it flows past the Tool shed and then under the access road. It then follows the southern edge of the garden property, spilling over 2 sandbag waterfalls, one of which is about 15 feet in height. The creek exits the garden through a “bear cage” on High Gate Road.

I’ve included Kristen Podalak’s sketch of the garden for reference:

BLAKE GARDEN -- Drawing by Kristen Podalak

This timelapse video was recorded on Saturday November 1, 2008 from a camera in the head house at Blake Garden. It shows a daylighted portion of El Cerrito Creek that is being impacted by rainwater runoff. This was the first substantial accumulation of the rainy season. A total of 2.5 inches of rain fell on Blake Garden.

Note: 3 surges occur at 11:21am, 1:56pm and just before dusk at 5:26pm. A white and red surveying stick marked with 1 foot increments was positioned on the creek bed. At surges level rises nearly one foot.

On Sunday Nov. 2, after the heavy rainfall, I documented the state of the creek in the proximity of the head house at Blake Garden.

This past week, Kristen and I worked some more on the Aqueduct structure, attaching it an overflow valve on the cistern and running it into the greenhouse. A basic structure of nodes was laid out, and we managed to beat the rain so that we got to see it in action on Saturday November 2. This weekend I did some more fine tuning and problem solving. In the coming weeks another branch will be added to feed the other end of the greenhouse.

This past weekend I worked on a prototype to support the bamboo aqueduct that will carry rainwater from the cistern to the Blake Garden greenhouse. For the supports I harvested a piece of Phyllostachys aurea from the hollow. The runnel is made from a split piece of timber bamboo, also from the property.

Last winter I helped Kristen Podolak, PHD candidate in Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley, install a 200 gallon cistern behind the head house at Blake Garden. By connecting the cistern to the roof gutter, the intention was to collect rainwater during the rainy season to water the greenhouse. On Friday night (10/4/08) .37 inches of rain fell on Blake Garden and this filled the cistern with approximately 90 gallons of water. The water is rust colored from the tree duff on the roof, but still quite suitable for watering plants. Lauri Twitchell, Blake Garden Manager, decided to “supersaturate” the tropical plants in the greenhouse with the water.

Kristen Podolak and Jessica Ludy spent last winter investigating creek restoration and rainwater collection at Blake Garden. Their paper & findings Restoration With Reference: Rediscovering Cerrito Creek in Blake Garden is available on-line.