Storm Drains and Glory Holes

The half-pipes standing upright here are water control devices, known as glory holes. When the ponds become too full from rain, water drains into the glory holes, through the culvert, and into the fresh water channel behind you. The water in the channel flows into Adobe Creek and eventually the Petaluma River. Some of the water flowing into the channel is fun-off that has collected in storm drains. This enters from a large pipe south of you on the far side. The storm drain system consists of street gutters, catch basins, culverts, pipes, etc. The water running off your roofs, gardens, sidewalks, driveways and streets, filled with sediment, fertilizer, oil, paint, pesticides, etc. all runs into the storm drains and eventually into the creeks and rivers. None of this water is treated and therefore has serious potential of polluting our waterways. Wetlands are filled with abundant plant and animal life and anything other than rainwater can damage this sensitive ecosystem. One way to test the health of a stream is to examine the macro-invertabrate population (organisms lacking an internal skeleton and large enough to be seen with the naked eye). If a stream is polluted there will likely be a decrease in diversity of the macro-invertebrate population. If the sample contains a diversity of organisms, the stream conditions are likely to be good. As you walk along the channel, look and listen for ducks, turtles, muskrats and the Marsh Wren (a small, restless, brown bird with an upturned tail, whose sond id a buzz followed by 1- 3 rattles.

Tour text from "Self Guided Tour of Shollenberger Park" available on site.