Going with the Flow   By Shirley Remes  Photography by Bob
Stefko   It was 2003, and Ben Rush was simply looking for a
reliable tenant for his Elm Avenue rental apartment in Elmhurst,
Illinois. But by renting to landscape architect Marcus de la
Fleur, he gained not only a tenant but a partner, one who
changed Rush’s perceptions about water: where it goes, where it
stays, and why.  Rush complained that muddy water was running
down a stairwell and spilling over the basement threshold in
this century-old building in the western suburb of Chicago. De
la Fleur had experience with slopes and drainage, and said he
might know how to fix the situation.  De la Fleur explained the
difference between a typical conveyance system we use here in
this country and the infiltration systems used in Germany. In
the States, we concentrate on directing excess water off our
properties, while in Europe, many systems keep water on-site so
it can filter down into the ground. It was an on-site solution
that de la Fleur proposed for the