Help the Sierra Club Launch Our Rain Garden Project! Join Us As We Build a Rain Garden at Montlake Elementary School!
To launch this rain garden project, Sierra Club is helping over 70 children install a rain garden at Montlake Elementary School, a Seattle Public School District site. We hope that this project will help promote the installation of rain gardens all over the Puget Sound area. The cumulative impact would help clean Puget Sound water.
Our Water & Salmon Team is serious about making the water that enters Puget Sound cleaner. Urban stormwater runoff studies conducted by the Puget Sound Partnership show that rain water collects huge amounts of oil left by cars and fertilizers left by gardeners and dumps this toxic water into Puget Sound. We have a simple message: You can help bring cleaner water to Puget Sound salmon and orcas by planting rain gardens. Rain gardens are like regular gardens except that they can hold a large amount of storm water runoff, contain native species, and are self-sustaining in 2-3 years. The idea is to divert rain water on your property into the ground - not into storm drains. Rain gardens act like a native forest by collecting, absorbing, and filtering stormwater runoff or rain water. Water filtered through plants and soil ends up in Puget Sound (or the nearest stream, river or lake) much cleaner. Any property owner in the Puget Sound area can plant native species and rain gardens.
To volunteer with our Rain garden Team, or to help with this event, please contact Rebecca Phelps at rebeccaphelps@comcast.net
More Info: Stormwater becomes polluted when rain hits the ground and collects pesticides, bacteria, petroleum hydrocarbons and metals. These contaminants flow into the storm drain and end up in the nearest stream, river or lake and eventually make their way into Puget . This forces animals like salmon and orcas to live in water filled with harmful chemicals. When the Montlake rain garden is planted, the stormwater from the play court and the portable roof will be filtered through the rain garden. The native plants will then be able to absorb many of the chemicals and keep them from entering our waterways.
We will also be installing an educational sign with graphics showing how the rain garden works and explaining the following:
- This perennial garden of native plants protects water quality in Puget Sound while adding beauty to the school grounds,
- Water from the adjacent roofs soaks in and is naturally filtered or cleaned before it enters the ground water, the Canal and Puget Sound,
- Rain gardens help salmon and orcas receive cleaner water,
- Most Seattle storm water that enters Puget Sound is untreated and contains fertilizers, pesticides, metals, fecal bacteria and oil from cars,
- A rain garden allows water to soak into the ground and replenishes ground water that sustains stream flows in summer months,
- A rain garden protects the water quality by trapping sediment, fertilizers, and other pollutants in the soil,
- No additional fertilizers and little pesticides are required to maintain the vegetation in rain gardens,
- Native plants provide food and shelter for butterflies, birds, and other animals, and
- Home owners and businesses can install rain gardens and plant native plants at locations with appropriate soil types, garden area, and drainage.
To build the garden, our all-volunteer team of water champions have arranged for asphalt and 2 feet deep of soil to be removed from the site, mixed with compost and returned for planting.
Rain water from the adjacent portable will drain to the garden. Overflow from the garden will be directed to an existing storm drain. Native plants will be selected based on suitability for the site. Children enrolled in the non-profit after school program called the Community Day School Association or CDSA will maintain the garden. Rain gardens generally are maintenance free in 2 years once the plants are grown!
Our plan is for this pilot project to lead to the installation of rain gardens at all Seattle Public Schools. And to encourage local businesses for help in sponsor rain gardens at other public schools. The rain garden will serve as an educational tool for all the children who attend Montlake currently and in the future. There is an existing greenhouse program and an after school community day school program that could easily incorporate hands-on educational environmental lessons using the rain garden. Sierra Club volunteers will create an educational sign to install and will do a press release and try to attract media attention for publicity of the installation day.
This project will be good publicity to the Seattle School District and will show that the District encourages an environmental curriculum starting with the elementary students. We would like this pilot project will be a stepping stone to demonstrate to local businesses the benefits of installing rain gardens. We will be doing outreach to other businesses to encourage business financing rain gardens at other Seattle Public Schools. The Community Day School Association children will maintain (weed, mulch, & water) the garden.
Stormwater pollution continues to spoil our water quality. In the natural environment, soil and plants act as a natural cleanser for rain water before it enters our surface or sub-surface waters. With the creation of cities, came the large amounts of pavement or impermeable smooth surfaces. Paved roads accumulate large amounts of stormwater runoff that collect pollutants such as grease, oil, heavy metals, and lawn fertilizers. This polluted water is then directed into our storm drains and ends up in our oceans and rivers. The result is degradation of our water quality for people, wildlife, and fish.Low Impact Development (LID) is a solution to address polluted stormwater runoff. According to the Puget Sound Action Team, less than half the salmon in Puget Sound are considered healthy, and there are currently 23 pesticides found in Puget Sound streams. As a result of the damages caused by stormwater pollution and the dangers of losing our wild salmon populations, Low Impact Development is becoming a popular solution to address stormwater contamination.
The three basic principles of LID are to:
- assess and understand the site;
- protect native vegetation and soils; and
- minimize and manage stormwater at the source.
Will you take the challenge to help our wild salmon by installing your own rain garden?The rain garden is just one of many aesthetic ways to practice LID. A rain garden is simply a specific way of setting up one’s garden so that your soil and vegetation filters the stormwater before it returns to the ground or surface water. Rain gardens are a great solution, because they are easy to create, attractive, do not disrupt wildlife habitats, have a low cost, and most importantly, effectively reduce stormwater pollution.
Click here to learn more about how to start your own rain garden
