Introduction to Educate and Infiltrate

Rain Garden Network created “Educate and Infiltrate” as a program that offers information, education, outreach and action-taking assistance services directly to residents and homeowners of participating communities through the support and sponsorship of their municipal government.

Our goal is to, at the very least, introduce people to “green” opportunities that are easy and inexpensive to implement on their own property and in their lives that will improve the environment. At the most, we plan to assist in the planning and installation of various green infrastructure applications that will help to reduce or eliminate a percentage of the urban runoff created by urban and suburban build-up.

We promote the use of rain gardens and other natural, sustainable and easily obtainable practices and techniques that will help to preserve and conserve water, reduce air, water and land pollution, create habitat for birds, butterflies and beneficial insects while addressing some of the issues that will reduce an family’s contribution to climate change.

Rain gardens and these other installations are not designed to replace all “pipe and drain” facilities but they can help to reduce the pressure on the sewer system by removing a percentage of the runoff generated by community growth.

Rain gardens are versatile and effective

Rain gardens are quickly becoming a popular method of rainwater and stormwater management for municipalities and homeowners. These installations tend to be a popular addition and alternative to traditional pipe and drain methods for a number of reasons including; their relative ease and cost-effectiveness of installation, their environmental appeal and sustainable nature. We hope to make rain gardens and other non-structural techniques a standard to deal with areas of moderate rainwater runoff and minimal pollutant pick-up.

This stormwater best management practice (BMP) referred to as a rain garden can be generally classified into two categories: the highly engineered bioretention/bioinfiltration version that we refer to as “deep” rain gardens and the less intensive homeowner version or “shallow” rain garden.

A deep rain garden is often 2.5’–3’ deep and consists of a bottom layer of gravel, a thick layer of engineered soil and a thin layer of hardwood mulch on top.

A shallow rain garden, that homeowners might have installed on their property, is usually 5”-7” deep and only includes about 2”–3” of compost mixed in and a hardwood mulch layer on top.

How rain gardens work

Both types of rain garden installations treat runoff created by rainwater running across impervious surfaces such as roofs and driveways. They both are designed to filter a specific volume of runoff rainwater which is usually calculated based on the size of impervious cover and land of the rain garden’s drainage area.

All rain gardens work on the theory of capturing runoff directed to it, holding that runoff for a short period of time, in some cases, cooling the runoff before infiltrating it through the soil and filtering out pollutants and assisting in groundwater recharge.

The bowl and upper areas of the garden is planted with species of grasses and forbs, preferably native, that can tolerate flooding and drought. An inlet and outlet are also mandatory for both kinds of gardens but they can be designed in a number of different ways. The inlet is how the rain garden receives runoff and the outlet is the used as an overflow that allows excess runoff to escape the rain garden.

Rain gardens can be placed in depressions on the landscape that naturally capture stormwater or positioned at the end of a runoff source like a downspout or driveway and then dug to the correct depth.

Rain garden plants take up pollutants such as heavy metals (copper, lead and zinc) and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, etc.). The mulch layer is exceptionally good at filtering out heavy metals from the runoff and the soil filters heavy metals as well as nutrients, oil, grease and other pollutants.

If designed and installed properly both types of rain gardens have their own specific purposes. A large amount of pollutants and large quantities of rainwater many require a deeper, more engineered installations but for homeowners who have moderate amounts for runoff and minimal amounts for pollutants we feel shallow rain gardens are the best and most cost effective choice.

More Than Just Rain Gardens

Rain Garden Network understands that the goal of more natural, sustainable neighborhoods requires more that just rain gardens. We offer individuals and groups the opportunity to engage in personal site visits and Neighborhood Walking Workshops. These Walking Workshops offer opportunities to identify areas that could benefit from the addition of sustainable practices and techniques.

Why Municipalities

We aren’t looking to change you or the way you are doing things. We are, however, looking to use you and the strong impressions the residents have for your departments. They trust their municipalities when determining and analyzing the best solutions to keep their property safe and sustainable.