Matt-Mary-Grattix-POV-09122013_573Always wanting to share best practices, the Port of Vancouver’s Environmental Team hosted a stormwater treatment demonstration on September 12 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Commissioner Jerry Oliver welcomed the crowd of more than 20 interested community members, and emphasized the port’s commitment to sustainability and stewardship.

Guests joined the port staff for a step-by-step demonstration on how-to-build their own Grattix, basically a rain garden in a box. This innovative system, invented by two port employees, Matt Graves and Mary Mattix (a combination of their last names), removes zinc pollution in stormwater from galvanized metal roofs and downspouts. The demonstration also included construction tips and advice on where to source inexpensive materials locally.

The event took place at Centennial Industrial Park, the port’s newest industrial property. It is also the site of the port’s newly constructed state-of-the-industry stormwater bio-filtration system, a large scale, in-ground system utilizing the same concepts of the Grattix.

Attendees included local county and city employees and representatives from organizations such as Sierra Club, Audubon Society, the Port of Portland and several port tenants.

The invention of the Grattix has spurred quite a bit of interest throughout Washington State, which included the Port of Vancouver being featured in a video entitled “Innovative Stormwater BMP: The Grattix,” created by the Washington Stormwater Center. However, the best news of all is that the port’s cost-effective solution to treating stormwater is planned to be used by a growing number of public and private entities, including other ports and companies such as Sapa Profiles and Precision Cast Parts.

Read more about the Grattix here or  download the Building a Grattix flyer.