Ristorante Picolino, owned and operated by Tom Bailiff, recently opened in the Sunset Hill area of Ballard and shines like a new penny with fresh paint and new plantings.

But this restaurant does more than just look good on the outside. The building, recently remodeled, has been built to last, and sustainably so. Recycled steel for the handmade ironwork compliments the beauty of reclaimed timber.

And that’s just part of what is special here. Chris Miller, from People for Puget Sound, a non-profit dedicated to protecting the health of Puget Sound waters, recommended I visit Picolino’s in response to questions about storm water issues.

Ballardites are being called on to help manage runoff waters due, in part, to an overloaded system that is currently not effectively protecting our local waters. Tom Bailiff’s example of stewardship provides a model we can all learn from.

So what’s wrong with the system? Currently, too much of the ground is simply not available to absorb water. Due to the loss of natural vegetation and the paving over of the ground, much more water runs off the land.

Miller explains, “... trees have been replaced with concrete pavement, roads and roofs. The water has to go somewhere.”

So less rain is taken up by the ground and that means more runoff (runoff that contains whatever chemicals it picks up along the way from roads, etc) which must be filtered and managed. Unfortunately, during big rains that overflow the system, water is discharged unfiltered into Puget Sound.

In Ballard, water overflows are directed to the Locks. It’s certainly no accident of nature that salmon spawn at a time typical for heavy rain … more rain means fuller streams and better chances of success at spawning. But it’s an unhappy coincidence that it’s also the time most likely for salmon to be inundated with unfiltered overflow water.

So you can see where the fingers of interrelatedness are beginning to lace, one issue touching on others. And this is why Bailiff’s restaurant is a great example of what stewardship really is.

The entire piece of property is designed to hold onto as much rainfall as possible. Lovely planted terraces capture the precipitation and slow it down with plants, soil and sand. Guided to a french drain (a pipe with holes in it), what is not absorbed flows into the 500-gallon cistern buried in the backyard.

The patio area also collects water, as does the 7,000 square-foot roof, once again directed to the cistern. Water is pumped whenever needed for the growing garden.

On the north side of his property, along the street, Bailiff dug up concrete along the planting strip and installed plants that absorb water flowing from the sidewalk.

“If everyone dug up some concrete and planted some trees, that would help”, says Bailiff.

Inspired by Picolino’s rain garden and educated, at least a little bit, by my conversation with Miller, I learned that I could do at least one thing: Divert our gutters away from the stormwater drain to the yard … a project Jim and I will be doing very soon.

And Bailiff, a man who walks the talk and whose future ideas for the restaurant include an outdoor pizza oven that will heat water, says, “Every little thing people do will make a difference.” And after touring his property, I surely believe it.

Rhonda lives in Ballard and is the Urban Crop Circle Project Leader for Sustainable Ballard. Questions, Comments, Ideas? You can reach her at Rhonda@sustainableballard.org.