Rain Gardens for Headwaters
Rain gardens are vegetated areas in urban environments, designed to capture, hold, cool, and filter water on the landscape. Rain gardens hold water where it can either evaporate, be transpired by plants (loss of water through leaves, stems, and flowers), or seep deep into the soil as groundwater. These gardens are an example of 'Green Infrastructure,' which are environmentally conscious, adaptable structures that attempt to work with, rather than against, the natural environment in developed areas.
Rain gardens build resilience to the significant impacts impermeable surfaces and stormwater runoff have on our local streams, watersheds, and communities. Our grassroots Rain Gardens for Headwaters program provides Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) education and capacity building for local communities and public schools. Through education, outreach, and building demonstration rain garden sites, we aim to take Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) and rain gardens from obscure to commonplace.
Rain garden demonstration sites serve as focal points for students, faculty, and the community at large to participate and learn about the efficacies and importance of Stormwater Management and Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). These sites are used to educate and increase literacy around rain garden design and installation, as well as critical issues such as stormwater impacts on local hydrology, water quality, ecosystem impacts, and landscape resilience to climate change. This is taught through engaged participation with the schools and community across all stages of the project lifecycle.
Our Rains, Drains, and Gardens Education Program for Grades 5+ gets youth thinking about native plant species, pollutants in stormwater, and ways to mitigate it (like rain gardens)!
Monterey Middle School Rain Garden
This 200 m² rain garden demonstration site was built in collaboration with the Friends of Bowker Creek’s 1000 Rain Gardens Program, School District 61, and with support from Oak Bay Engineering. Designed to capture and hold water from a 1000 m² parking lot, it has been effectively treating toxic runoff before it gets released into the environment. Students were intimately involved in every step of the design, construction, and planting phases and now partake in ongoing maintenance of the garden. Through numerous in-class presentations and workshops, students have learned more about the science of rain gardens and are now hard at work designing signage to be erected in the near future.
Campus View Elementary School Rain Garden
Consisting of one large demonstration garden and three other smaller sites, the Campus View Elementary School rain gardens are actively filtering rainwater coming from the school bus loop and staff parking lot. Once an area that was prone to flooding, these rain gardens are effectively soaking up excess water like a sponge before draining into the headwaters of Bowker Creek, which are only 150 m away. Partners of this project included the Friends of Bowker Creek and School District 61, in addition to students from Campus View Elementary School and Mount Douglas Secondary School. They have played a critical role in maintaining the garden through diligent weeding, mulching, and secondary planting events.
Parkdale Early Childhood Centre Rain Garden
The rain garden at the Parkdale Early Childhood Centre now filters the hot, fast, and toxic stormwater coming from the parking lot with its bioactive soils and native plants, before allowing it to seep into the Cecelia Creek Watershed. The plants also serve as a living classroom for the kids, offering hands-on learning about plant life and species that hold cultural significance for Indigenous Peoples.
Learn More
Scroll through or click to view this story map created in 2023 explaining how rain gardens work.