RAINSCAPING WITH RAIN GARDENS... Working With Nature to Transform Stormwater Runoff into Garden Oases “What is stormwater runoff? Stormwater runoff occurs when precipitation from rain or snowmelt flows over the ground. Impervious surfaces like driveways, sidewalks, and streets prevent stormwater runoff from naturally soaking into the ground.” “Why is stormwater runoff a problem? Stormwater can pick up debris, chemicals, dirt, and other pollutants and flow into a storm sewer system or directly to a lake, stream, river, wetland, or coastal water. Anything that enters a storm sewer system is discharged untreated into the waterbodies we use for swimming, fishing, and providing drinking water.” Source: www.epa.gov/weatherchannel/stormwater.html			RainScaping.org is being developed and will be launched in late 2008.  In the interim, information will be hosted on the CEC’s website.  Click here for more information.

Our manmade system of curbs, gutters, and storm drains quickly carries stormwater runoff directly to local
streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay—without any natural filtering process. However, there are various
techniques we can employ to lessen the detrimental impact of stormwater runoff, such as installing rain gardens,
rain barrels, green roofs, and pervious pavers. This publication focuses on rain gardens.

Imitating Nature with Rain Gardens
Leaving or creating depressions in the landscape promotes stormwater infiltration and reduces stormwater runoff.
Take a walk through a forested area and you’ll notice knolls and swales. Shaping the land in this fashion imitates
nature by creating contours throughout the landscape, which allows rainwater to soak into the ground—as nature
intended. The human tendency is to level the landscape, unaware of the environmental impact of this type of
grading. Rain gardens are simply low-lying, vegetated depressions—generally 3 to 6 inches deep—which have
absorbent soils that temporarily collect stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces and allow the runoff to slowly
percolate into the soil. The depression should be a flat-bottom, saucer shape rather than a bowl shape so that
rainwater runoff can sheet out throughout the garden to allow for better infiltration. This generally takes a few
hours and shouldn’t take more than 2 days. Rain gardens are attractive landscaping features that function like a
natural moist garden, moist meadow, or light forest ecosystem. They can look as informal or as formal as you like.

Rain gardens provide flood control, groundwater recharge, and water-cooling benefits, while the plants, soils,
and associated microorganisms remove many types of pollutants—such as excess nutrients, pesticides, oils,
metals, and other contaminants—from stormwater runoff. Stormwater pouring off hot roofs, pavement, and other
impervious surfaces is temporarily captured, cooled, and allowed to percolate into the ground. Nutrients such
as nitrogen and phosphorus, which would otherwise contribute to algae blooms and other problems in the Bay,
are instead put to beneficial use by being taken up by the plants in the garden. Some studies show that about 50
percent of such pollution comes from individuals and homeowners, through yard care, yard waste, and chemical
pollution from household activities.

Native plant rain gardens also become wildlife oases with colors, fragrances, and the sights and sounds of
songbirds and butterflies regularly visiting. Additionally, rain gardens increase groundwater supplies, significant
because many people get their water from underground aquifers. The replenishment of groundwater—which is
particularly important in times of drought—depends on the absorption of rainwater into the ground.

By creating rain gardens and keeping most of the rain that falls on your site contained on site—the way
nature intended—you can help improve water quality in local streams and rivers and ultimately the Chesapeake
Bay. Native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials improve the ability of water to filter down and recharge
groundwater supplies, unlike turf grass, which tends to form a partially impervious barrier to water infiltration.

Notably, a rain garden is a type of bioretention installation, however, “bioretention” often refers to installations
that are designed and engineered to be more complex than home rain gardens in order to mitigate larger amounts
of runoff. They are deeper and typically incorporate underdrains.

For design and installation instructions, sample rain garden designs, and plant lists, download Rainscaping with Rain Gardens  (2.9mb)

Summary of the RainScaping Campaign

A coalition of strategic partners is currently in the process of developing a RainScaping Social Marketing Campaign to improve the health of Anne Arundel County tributaries and the Chesapeake Bay.  The campaign will highlight:  contaminants in stormwater runoff, including excessive pesticide and fertilizer use; the lack of natural filtering processes and infiltration; and a holistic approach to solutions to mitigate polluted runoff.  We are implementing a social marketing campaign where change takes place by:  using a variety of advertising techniques; presenting in numerous live venues (similar to Al Gore's Global Warming Initiative, just on a smaller scale); and by imitation of best rainscaping practices. 

Messages will be disseminated via mass media and live venues to reach 10 percent or approximately 50,000 (total population 509,000) Anne Arundel County residents. Using the City of Annapolis (pop. 36,500) as our test focus for monitoring, we expect rainscaping messages to result in:  reduced pesticide and fertilizer use; better management of pet waste and trash; and the installation of rain gardens; rain barrels; permeable pavers; and green roofs by 1 percent or 365 Annapolis homeowners and businesses.  Innovative and standard marketing techniques will target urban and suburban landowners—especially environmentalists, gardeners, home enthusiasts, and cultural creatives—that have the value, but may not necessarily exhibit the behavior, in order to “Influence Public Behavior” for a common goal of improving water quality.

An essential first step to develop and implement the RainScaping Social Marketing Campaign is to recruit strategic partners.  Thus far, the following organizations have agreed to participate:

Government:  Anne Arundel County; Anne Arundel County Public Schools—Adams Academy at Adams Park, and Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center; City of Annapolis; Maryland Department of Natural Resources (3 programs); U.S. EPA—Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program. 

NGOs:  Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay; Annapolis Green; Blacks of the Chesapeake; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council; Chesapeake Ecology Center; Educators Connecting Research to the K-16 Classroom; Lower Western Shore Tributary Team; Maryland Master Gardener Program; Severn River Association; South River Federation; Spa Creek Conservancy; University of Maryland Cooperative Extension—Bay-Wise Program; Unity Gardens; and Volunteer Center For Anne Arundel County. 

Our goal is to partner with government entities, non-profit organizations, and the business community to promote stormwater runoff solutions.  We are continuing to seek additional RainScaping Campaign Partners.  The minimum requirement is to help promote the campaign, include a link on your website to the RainScaping.org website, and include PSAs on your website.  The RainScaping Campaign will represent all partners. 

A new "www.RainScaping.org" website is being created, which will include extensive information on stormwater runoff problems and solutions.  The website will highlight partners and their efforts to address polluted runoff, as well as stormwater mitigation projects throughout the county.  Using Google Maps, we will indicate with buttons on a map the location of projects throughout Anne Arundel County.  When you click on a button, a box will enlarge with information about the site/project.  

To improve the health of Anne Arundel County tributaries and the Chesapeake Bay, RainScaping Campaign Partners will work to achieve the following objectives of the campaign:

• Pre-Production:  Conduct—surveys, focus group testing, literature review of market research, and related campaign material review.  Use results to help develop multi-media marketing materials.
• Production:  Develop—“RainScaping.org” website, multi-media marketing materials, brochure, RainScaping booklet, Google Analytics tracking and Google Maps.  Install RainScaping Education Stations as examples of best RainScaping practices.
• Distribution:  Market messages via promotional activities, websites, mass media, and live venues with the help of train-the-trainer program participants.
• Evaluation:  Obtain feedback from site visits in the City of Annapolis (with numbers extrapolated for Anne Arundel County) and website tracking covering Anne Arundel County.  Evaluate effectiveness of campaign material, methods used, and campaign results.  Compare results to examples from other campaigns. 
• Projected project outcome:  The RainScaping Campaign is highly successful with messages reaching 10 percent of Anne Arundel County residents; and 1 percent or 365 Annapolis homeowners and businesses install RainScapes (with numbers extrapolated for Anne Arundel County), which result in a reduction of polluted runoff flowing to our waterways. The campaign model and evaluation results will be very useful for future campaigns.

We welcome any suggestions you may have to make this a dynamic social marketing campaign that influences behavioral change.  If you would like to participate in the RainScaping Campaign Work Group to help shape the campaign, please contact zoralathan@earthlink.net.

The RainScaping Campaign is sponsored by the 2008 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program—administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation—and RainScaping Campaign Partners. 

 

    Download Rainscaping with Rain Gardens here! (2.9mb)