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!
Arlington
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?)
Everett
Community Meeting #1 - Date to be determined
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.
Funding for this project courtesy of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's 5 Star Restoration Program.
