GET INVOLVED

LEARN MORE

How does a Rain Garden
help protect our water?

Rain is natural; stormwater isn't. Stormwater occurs when impervious surfaces, such as roofs, roads, and parking lots, prevent rain from infiltrating into the ground in urban areas.

Government studies have shown that up to 70% of the pollution in our streams, rivers and lakes is carried there by stormwater. About half of the pollution that stormwater carries comes from things we do in our yards and gardens!

            

Planting a rain garden may seem like a small thing, but if you calculated the amount of rain that runs off your roof, you would be very surprised. That rain is supposed to soak into the ground, but instead heads down the street to the storm drain, carrying pollution with it. Rain gardens help improve water quality by slowing stormwater and filtering out pollutants.

SWEET Team Members:   
Monroe County Government
City of Bloomington
Town of Ellettsville
Indiana University
Ivy Tech

- Rain gardens have a ponding area, but they are not ponds.

- Rain gardens absorb and filter rain that would otherwise run off your property and down the storm drain.

- The native plants in a rain garden do not need special attention once they are established.

- A rain garden can be a small, home-owner style garden, a large complex bioretention garden, or anything in between.

DOWNLOAD OUR BROCHURE TO LEARN MORE!