Beautifying Milwaukee Through Rain Gardens

This spring, those who would like to make theenvironment a greener place need look no further than their yards. Thanks to anovel approach to reduce storm water, we can all become eco-friendly gardeners.Rain gardens were invented in 1990 as a means to reduce storm water in acost-effective way. Bioretention, which is the holding and filtering of stormwater in plant systems, was the solution Larry Coffman, head of environmentalprograms in Prince George's County, Md., found to be most practical in reducingwater runoff and protecting water quality. He and his team coined the term“rain gardens.” Since then, their approach has caught on around the country,including here in Milwaukee, as a way to improve water quality, reducestorm-water runoff and beautify an area.

The plants in a rain garden have deep, dense rootsystems that act like a sponge to soak up water during a storm. Their roots aremuch longer than those of grass, lending the plants the ability to hold muchmore water than a lawn. The garden is ideally placed in a low spot in a yard,about 10 feet from a house, and in a location where the water flows from adownspout. When it rains, the water that runs off of a homeowner's roof andinto the downspout is directed toward the garden, which absorbs a good amountof the water and prevents it from running into the sewer. The plants in a raingarden are typically native plants, like purple coneflower, prairie blazingstar, great blue lobelia, or black-eyed Susans. The water is then filterednaturally back into the ecosystem instead of becoming the sort of dangerousrunoff that collects toxins like gasoline and oil from the roads, and bacteriaand chemicals from garbage, and ends up polluting our waterways.

Rain barrels are another way to reduce storm-waterrunoff. Attach them to downspouts and they collect up to 55 gallons of waterper storm, which can be used at a later time to water plants.

This year, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District(MMSD) is carrying out a Rain Garden Initiative, as well as selling rainbarrels. For more information, homeowners can go to the MMSD Web site,http://v3.mmsd.com. To obtain plants at a reduced rate of $1.80 per plant, aminimum purchase of 32 plants is required. The program is open to residents ofWauwatosa and Milwaukee, among others. The deadline to sign up is May 1. Theplants will be distributed later during the summer.

Those who would like to learn more about starting arain garden or installing a rain barrel can attend workshops through theorganization Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, which is hosting classes on bothsubjects April 24 at the Kneeland-Walker House in Wauwatosa. More informationcan be found on their Web site, www.kgmb.org.

For more resources on rain gardens, check out theWisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Web site,www.dnr.state.wi.us/runoff/rg/.