Several years ago people from our county, Washington County, came to our church and asked our leaders if we would be interested in having a rain garden located close to one of our parking lots. They would find a partner to build it. Since we had issues of standing water on our parking lots from storms or snowmelt, and we have a creek close by. We felt that it would be beneficial to have one. After our partner built a rain garden for our church, we signed an agreement that we would take care of it during the following two years.

What is a rain garden? A rain garden is a bowl shaped garden that is built where it will capture rain and snowmelt (stormwater runoff ) before it reaches a storm sewer or nearby stream, creek, lake, or river. This runoff water may include: leaves, grass clippings, fertilizers, and pesticides. This special garden would filter this polluted water by slowing it down, and then this runoff would soak into the ground within the next two days. This project would help our sewer system, lakes, creeks, rivers, and streams become cleaner.