By Nina Suzuki, Waterway Steward

Waterway weirs in the rain

The Arboretum Waterway receives all the stormwater from the core of the UC Davis campus, about 1000 acres. That’s a big area! Long story short, when water flows down our campus sidewalks and into a storm drain, it eventually gets delivered to the Arboretum Waterway.

After .85″ of rain in the last 8 hours, you can see the result. The weirs in Phase One of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project are functioning beautifully. They allow water to flow from the east end of the Arboretum Waterway (where the weirs are located) to the west end of the Arboretum Waterway (near the Equestrian Center) where pumps send the water all the way out to Putah Creek. Once here, the water eventually reaches the San Francisco Bay.

It is also interesting to see that in this recent rain, most of the wetland planters adjacent to each weir are under just under an inch of water. These wetland planters are designed to be underwater about 1-2 inches during rain and this is the first opportunity for us to see that.

FOR MORE INFORMATION visit the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project page.

STAY TUNED! We will be recruiting volunteers to revegetate the banks along the Phase One project area soon! Sign up for our email updates to learn more.

Last but not least, a video of Weir 5.