SOAKING UP RAINWATER
            “Except for the occasional rain dance we can’t do much about where the rain falls, but we can do a great deal in determining where the rain goes,” explains Sandra Mason, Unit Educator, Horticulture and Environment, Champaign County. “When we pave and roof, we take areas that use to be sieves for rainwater and turn them into funnels. Just watch your downspouts even with a light rain. The water gushes out. We love not having to slop around in mud, but by creating hard surfaces we change the flow of rainwater. Rain gardens are one solution to turn areas back into sieves.”
A rain garden is just what it sounds like – a garden that soaks up rainwater. It is a shallow depression planted with perennials, usually native plants, located to intercept rainwater flowing from downspouts and drainage ways. The garden fills with a few inches of water and allows the water to slowly filter into the ground rather than running off to storm drains, ditches, or streams. Compared to a patch of conventional lawn, a rain garden allows about 30 percent more water to soak into the ground.
“Rain gardens are not ponds. They are not designed to hold water permanently. Instead they fill after a rain and water slowly infiltrates into the soil over a couple of hours. The area dries between rains eliminating problems with mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are much more likely to occur in birdbaths, storm sewers, tires and kiddy pools than in rain gardens. If during heavy rains the water stays longer than a couple days, just use ‘mosquito dunks’ which contain a safe bacterial agent that kills only mosquito larvae.” (Mason)
            A rain garden can be located at the end of a downspout at least ten feet away from buildings or in an identified wet spot in the yard. The area being drained determines size. A depression is dug and leveled with a small berm on the down-slope side, then planted with appropriate plants, covered with mulch, and watered until plants are established. Detailed directions can be obtained in a 32-page booklet entitled Rain Gardens – A how-to-manual for homeowners by the Wisconsin Department of natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin Extension available as a PDF downloadable file at www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/nps/rg/rgmanual.pdf or by calling 1-877-947-7827. More information is available at www.raingarden.com or www.raingarden.il.gov.
Working together with landowners in your neighborhood, you can be part of the solution to stormwater management. Work is required to get the rain garden started but once it is established, it pretty much takes care of itself. You can sit back and enjoy the garden and the environmental benefits.
           
Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District, an equal opportunity provider and employer, 08/22/07 (for publication on 09/01/07 in the Journal Standard, Freeport, Illinois) Della can be reached at info@stephensonswcd.org