Cascadia College Rain Garden

Here in the Pacific Northwest, winters can be very rainy. The Puget Sound area is also growing quickly, and as more areas are developed they are covered in impervious surfaces such as roads, roofs and parking lots. When rain falls on impervious surfaces it moves swiftly over them and into storm drains, where it is carried untreated directly into waterways and then flows into the Puget Sound.  As stormwater flows over streets and roofs it picks up pollution such as oil, trash, animal waste, pesticides, fertilizers, salt and other pollutants. Car exhaust deposits polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the streets, which when washed into waterways damages the ecology and accumulates in the tissues of animals. Streams in the Pacific Northwest are important habitat for many kinds of birds and fish, and are critical habitat for juvenile and spawning salmon. Aquatic species, including animals like frogs and dragonflies that spend part of their lives in the water and part of it on land, are

I'm posting the research paper I wrote to prepare for the project to give some background on why rain gardens are valuable. Demonstration Rain Gardens:  Their Influence and Value O. Jackson Cascadia College Abstract Rain gardens are an example of green infrastructure. They help reduce the need to replace expensive stormwater infrastructure by slowing and filtering runoff. Rain gardens absorb pollutants as well as reduce flooding. The proposed site for a new rain garden is the Cascadia College campus, which is sited near a restored wetland. The campus is deeply involved with measuring and managing polluted stormwater inflows from impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops, which often carry nutrients, bacteria, and car exhaust pollution downstream into bodies of water used by species such as salmon. The sensitive ecology and the many people who visit the campus make Cascadia College a good location for a demonstration rain garden. An attractive ra