Rain Gardens
This rain garden collects runoff from the road.WHAT IS A RAIN GARDEN?
Rain gardens are vegetated areas that collect, absorb and clean stormwater runoff. Using slope, vegetation and well drained soils, rain gardens are increasingly being used by homeowners and municipalities to reduce the impact of stormwater on local waterways and storm drain systems.
NEW RAIN GARDENS IN ARLINGTON AND EVERETT
MyRWA is working with the Town of Arlington, City of Everett and local community groups to design and build one to two rain gardens in each city. Community involvement is key to the success of these gardens - please plan on attending the next Community Meeting!
Everett
- Community Meeting #2 - Monday, April 23 at 6pm, City Hall, Room 25, 484 Broadway, Everett. View the presentation here.
- Community Meeting #1 - Wednesday, March 7th at 7pm, City Hall, Keverian Room, 484 Broadway, Everett. (Introduction to the rain garden project & discussion of rain garden locations) View the presentation here.
Arlington
- Community Meeting #3 - Tuesday, April 10th at 7pm, Robbins Library community room, 700 Mass. Ave., Arlington (Review and vote on rain garden locations and designs)
- Arlington Rain Garden tour, Monday, April 2nd, 5:30pm. Depart from 20 Academy St, Arlington
- Community Meeting #2 - Thursday, February 9th at 7pm, Arlington Senior Center ground floor conference room, 27 Maple St., Arlington. At this meeting we will solicit and review rain garden locations.
- Community Meeting #1 - Tuesday, January 17th at 7pm, Robbins Library community room, 700 Mass. Ave. (Introduction to the rain garden project & what is a rain garden?) View the presentation here.
- Join the dialogue! MyRWA has an Arlington Rain Garden list serv: ARLraingarden@mysticriver.org. You can submit your ideas for a rain garden location on this list serv and ask questions about the project/rain gardens.
The goal of this work is to restore water quality and habitat by raising awareness of stormwater and implementing rain garden structures. Rain gardens reduce stormwater runoff which carries significant levels of pollutants into the river system including nutrients. The rain gardens that will be built in this program will contribute to the reduction of pollutant loads from two sources - impervious surface runoff and failing sewage/stormwater infrastructure. The high percentage of impervious cover allows fertilizers, pet waste, and vehicle detritus to be picked up by rainwater and quickly transported to the river. In the case of failing infrastructure, a significant amount of rainwater is leaking from the surface into the sewer system causing the sewer system to overflow and introduce pollution to the Mystic River or other bodies of water. The rain gardens will allow rain water to be directed to areas that will permit the rainwater to infiltrate into the ground. The infiltrated water thus will not flush pollutants toward the river nor enter the sewer system at capacity.
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Funding for this project courtesy of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's 5 Star Restoration Program.
MA Low Impact Development ToolkitLEARN MORE
http://epa.gov/ (search “rain garden”)
www.cleanwatercampaign.com/html/636.htm
www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/raingarden_design/index.htm