Rain Gardens

Many of us never put our minds to where all the rainwater runoff from our rooftops, driveways, and streets escapes to. But perhaps it is time we do. Each time it rains gallons upon gallons of toxic runoff finds its way into our lakes and rivers, threatening the environment and ultimately us. For this reason groups of people across the country have partnered together to create rain gardens. A rain garden is designed to capture runoff from roofs and roadways using plants that don’t mind having “wet feet”. The runoff then soaks into the ground, instead of flowing into city stormwater or sewer systems. This slow “soaking up” of rainwater that the rain gardens provide allows pollutants to be filtered out and devoured by organisms in the soil. The vast majority of rain gardens already in place are a success and proof positive of how green infrastructure can be beautiful and hard working at the same time. Some rain gardens have not been as successful due to either poor or rushed planning, but those are being researched and reworked. In Washington state WSU and Stewardship Partners are leading a campaign to install twelve thousand rain gardens in the Seattle/Puget Sound Region by 2016.