Revised 5/25/18

Camden SMART Rubble Project

Camden SMART now has over 50 stormwater management sites throughout Camden

City. Many of the sites have one or more rain gardens which were originally constructed without

a border. Without a border to define and protect the gardens, these sites can be damaged.

Tobiah Horton, Rutgers Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Landscape

Architecture developed a project, assigned to the Camden Powercorps, which reuses concrete

rubble to form borders for the rain gardens. Tobiah demonstrated to the PowerCorps members

how to form the clean concrete, obtained from a CCMUA contractor, into pieces usable for a

border. Safety equipment such as gloves and eye protection were worn during this process. The

concrete, if needed based on size, was shaped into a block, using a sledge hammer and chisel.

Also, as needed, some of the pieces had their edges shaped or smoothed. Pallets were stacked

with four or five rows of the finished rubble blocks. These were wrapped in plastic and tied with

rope for transportation to the installation site.

This collaborative project, supervised by CCMUA staff, reuses material which would

otherwise go to a landfill, teaches PowerCorps members how to use tools, and protects the

stormwater management features. Tools for these projects were purchased by Camden

Greenways Inc. and/or borrowed from Rutgers and the Camden County Tool Library.

The first site to have a rubble border installed was the Jackson Street rain garden. CCMUA

O&M staff moved the material to the site. A small trench was dug around the raingarden, about

1/3 of the size of the height of the pieces deep. The pieces were then placed into this shallow

trench. The soil was packed around each block to secure it from moving.

The Camden County Library on Ferry Avenue has two Camden SMART rain gardens and

both now have downspout splash blocks and a rubble border installed. The new border solved a

problem at the site which was caused by vandals throwing much smaller rocks that had previously

been used in these gardens. This border also prevents landscapers from cutting into the gardens

by mistake.

The third site for the rubble borders is the two large Gateway CSO rain gardens. These rain

gardens are in an isolated area and have been damaged in the past. The border and rubble pieces

help to identify and protect the rain garden. The fourth site is the Dudley Grange Park rain garden.

This garden is in a Camden City Park and has been replanted and had a new drain added. The

border was installed as a team project by both the Camden and Philadelphia PowerCorps. The

Brimm School rain garden was chosen for the next rubble border. The border was installed a few

days after another Camden SMART event was held at the school “Imagine A Day Without Water

2017”. Future sites for the rubble border will be chosen as they become available.

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