Rain Gardens

What is a rain garden?
It’s a landscape feature consisting of a planted shallow depression which collects rainwater runoff from roofs, parking lots and other impervious surfaces. Integrating rain gardens, rain barrels and other types of on-site rainwater management techniques on school property can be inexpensive, environmental practical and full of educational opportunities. Many public schools have taken advantage of building a rain garden for their campus such as the Mount Tabor Middle School in Portland, Oregon where they converted an existing parking lot into a rain garden.

Having a rain garden and process of planning it can be a valuable experience for students and teachers. It will provide an awareness of environmental issues, within your neighborhood which can provide many lessons and knowledge that can be passed on from one community to the next. Here are a few of the benefits and downfalls on rain gardens.
Pros:
-Prevents flooding and drainage problems
-Protects streams and lakes from contaminants
-Reduce erosion
-Reduce the load on municipal storm water treatment.
-Hands-on, in-the-field educational opportunities
-Sustainable through drought, flood and the summer break
-Enhance community awareness of stormwater issues
-Create a sense of community ownership of the solution to pollution issues
Cons:
-Most rain gardens need some maintenance
-Traditional ornamental plants will not survive. Must use native plants

There are several existing programs to help each school start up their own rain gardens. Here are several links for your use.

http://uwarboretum.org/eps/research_act_classroom/rain_garden_curriculum.p
http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/school/articles/rain_garden.pdf
http://www.schools.indiawaterportal.org/node/9