Naperville Park District Takes Holistic Approach

When residents picked up their rain barrels last month at the , some were a bit surprised.

“People saw them and said they don’t look brand new,” said Peggy Pelkonen, project manager with the park district. “They are reused pickle and olive barrels from Greece.”

Call it a recycling twofer. Both rain water and the barrel itself are reused.

Through the collaboration of the park district and The Conservation Foundation, a total of 250 barrels sold—248 in advance. The display and an extra sold on pick up day. With each barrel holding 55 gallons, that’s a potential 13,750 gallons of rain water diverted from the stormwater system.

“With all the flooding in the news, it just seems like an important thing to do, and (it) reduce(s) our potential water use,” Pelkonen said.

Another way the district is looking to cut water consumption is through the upcoming renovations at . As part of the project this summer, a 10,000 gallon underground cistern will be installed beneath the restroom building.

“That will hold rain as it comes off the roof that we can use for irrigation,” said Eric Shutes, director of planning for the park district.

Grant funding will offset 60 percent of the $112,000 cost, Pelkonen said.

Conserving water is just one of the many ways Naperville Park District continues its efforts to be more eco-friendly. Last fall the district was named first runner up for the Best Green Practices Award from the Illinois Association of Park Districts.

The Naperville Park District is continually identifying and tracking its environmental efforts, Shutes said.

In 2009, the park district created The Green Team to identify and implement green initiatives, he said. It is a cross-functional team of staff members from all departments throughout the park district.

“It’s really helpful because we have all those diverse perspectives,” Shutes said.

Since the Green Team began meeting, the district added hybrid vehicles to its fleet, switched to environmentally safe cleaning products and reduced paper consumption by trimming pages from the program guide and sending confirmations via email.

Through the use of programmable thermostats and motion sensors, the district has cut energy costs. By shutting down office computers on evenings and weekends, the district has been able to reduce its energy consumption for computers by 60 percent, Shutes said.

For construction projects, the district now requires contractors to recycle.

“We ask that the contractors recycle the materials rather than take them to a general waste dump,” Shutes said. “Last year alone, we recycled over 550 tons of materials.”

Now meeting every two or three months, the team prepares a report that is given to the park board in its weekly packet.

“Right now we’re evaluating a lot of our initiatives for 2011,” Shutes said.

When evaluating whether or not to implement a practice, the main question is “is it feasible?” Shutes said.

“You’re going to find that not everything fits with our mission and what we’re trying to do,” Shutes said. “If we think it works well, we’ll end up using it.”

Following the installation of a permeable, paved parking lot at last year, the district is installing one at . The lot allows water to drain through it, where it is filtered and cleaned before entering streams and rivers. A water quality grant from DuPage County will help pay for the parking lot.

Also with the help of grant money, a pervious concrete lot is slated for installation at , replacing the gravel lot.

“The gravel, unfortunately, erodes into the stream,” Pelkonen said.

The improvements at Seager Park also include an interpretive center with many green features. Among those are natural ventilation system, natural and energy efficient lighting, dual flush toilets, sensor faucets, air hand dryers and native plantings to filter and slow storm water. While the building will have many green features, the district is not seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for it.

However, the district’s South Maintenance Facility is LEED Silver certified. The district recently gave high school students a tour of the building and its features.

“There’s definitely an education component for what we’re trying to do,” Shutes said.