Where does the Rain Garden go?

            So now you that you know what a rain garden is, where does it go? Planning where your garden goes is one of the most important steps in this process; the garden cannot go just anywhere. One of the most important things to remember in deciding a location is to remember the function of the garden. The garden is meant to purify rain water runoff, and to drain water from areas with a lot of water. Thus, a good place to put a rain garden is a place where there is a lot of rain water runoff, possibly with a large amount of puddles and water in one area. Usually, a rain garden is placed at the bottom of a sloped area, because when it rains the water will make its way down the slope, and collect at the bottom. This leads to standing water and puddles, which can attract mosquitoes and cause other problems. By placing a rain garden at the bottom of the slope, then water that would have collected is now being filtered through the soil, which helps to take out the pollutants from the water and filter it back into larger bodies of water. Places to avoid would be around areas of heavy foot traffic and near areas of heavy development, such as too close to houses. This is because the amount of activity near these areas causes the soil to be deeply compacted, causing water flow to be difficult. Also, it is not entirely beneficial to place a garden in an area with little water flow, such as in the middle of a flat field. The lack of water flow means that there is very little for the rain garden to purify, and flooding can still occur in other areas.

            In the past week, we observed where the rain garden will be placed on campus. About a minute walk from Pollack, right by the Athletic building, the garden will be placed between the two telephone poles closest to the theatre. This a perfect place to put the garden because the parking lot itself is a hall, forming a deep slope. This is a great place to put a rain garden because the collected water at the bottom of the hill is collecting in large puddles, causing problems for the parking lot. Also, all the sediment and debris from the parking lot is being carried to the bottom of the hill, leaving to build up over time. By putting a rain garden there, all the sediment from the lot will be filtered through the soil, and the amount of collected rain water will reduced significantly. In finding a place to put a rain garden, it is crucial to remember that the garden should go in place with a lot of sediment and rain water buildup.