The Importance of Rain Gardens

Photo Credit: by Fiduz on flickr

The environment took a major hit when Hurricane Sandy reared her ugly monsoon head at the east coast. The storm waves washed petroleum and other toxic chemicals from thousands of different sources into the Hudson River and New York harbors. While the rest of us are just coping with moderate to heavy rainfall, it brought me to wonder ways we can prevent storm water pollution from flowing into our rivers. While we welcome rainfall after this year’s drought, it can put major stress on our rivers and add a heavy dose of pollution to creeks and streams. This is where rain gardens can help, particularly in urban areas.

What is a rain garden?

A rain garden is a collection of flowers and plants that are designed to withstand high volumes of moisture along with high concentrations of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that are often in storm water runoff.  They are strategically placed close to the source of runoff and aim to filter and slow the process of water traveling downhill. It hinders the momentum of water and gives it less erosive power. The garden may look like any other beautiful garden except that the design and selection of foliage caters to the environment by cleaning and reducing the volume of storm water runoff once it enters the garden.

Think “Ecosystems” — your rain garden can be a host to wildlife in the same way that Lake Ella (also a… fb.me/2vvmZ4pTv

— TAPP (@TAPP_Water) October 31, 2012

How it Works

Rooftops, streets, and pavements act like funnels during rainy season and can cause flooding and toxic pollution to our water supply.  Things like oil, bacteria, dirt, and pesticides accumulate on surfaces like rooftops, driveways, and lawns, which wash down streets and enter storm drains untreated. Ultimately the dirt-laden water flows into nearby streams and ponds which the EPA says accounts for nearly 70% of all water pollution.

Rain Garden Overflow Channel

The two different types of rain gardens include- under-drained, outfitted with storm pipe system underneath the garden; and self-contained that is designed to drain from the surface within hours. An average sized garden can retain thousands of gallons of water each year and is considered to be a form of river-friendly landscaping.

Rain gardens take some of the burden off our waterways by temporarily holding and soaking in water acting almost as a small bioretention cell. They have been known to be extremely effective at removing up to 90% of nutrients and up to 80% of sediments from storm runoff.  The garden doesn’t necessarily resemble a wetland because it’s dry most of the time except during and after a rain. The water drains from the garden in roughly 12-18 hours after a surge of rainfall.

The Benefits of a Rain Garden

As previously mentioned rain gardens help to decrease pollution in our waterways. In turn, it can increase local water quality and provide a low maintenance attractive setting for a business or household. It also has the potential to reduce basement flooding, eliminate puddles in your lawn, and it provide a nice habitat for beneficial critters like insects, birds, and butterfly’s.  Rain gardens are used by many cities as a cost effective way to manage storm water runoff and is considered a sustainable solution to an ongoing abd important problem. Without careful rainfall management, particularly in wet regions like Pennsylvania, the consequences include increased flooding, water quality degradation, reduced groundwater recharge and loss of aquatic life.

The great thing about rain gardens is that anyone can build them and can be low cost. You can do your part to help mitigate storm water runoff and pollution by creating your very own “water catchment garden” and improve our environment one drop at a time.

Photo Credit:  Some rights reserved by ninepennies on flickr

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Angie Tarantino (156 Posts)

Angie Tarantino is a contributor and part founder of The Environmental Blog. She covers animal rights, green tips and general green news topics She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Follow @EcoChic314

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