Rain Gardens

About Rain Gardens

Mother earth creates the rain - but we create the runoff. When rain hits the roofs, streets, and driveways of our neighborhoods, it washes pollution into the river. A rain garden captures the rainwater runoff and filters it clean.

One inch of rainfall means 600 gallons of water will be captured by a typical rain garden. Captured water won’t go to municipal pipes, won’t add pollution to the river, and won’t contribute to flooding. This water will recharge the groundwater. Before it does, it keeps the garden looking green and lush.

A rain garden is an attractive landscaping feature planted with perennial native plants. It is a bowl-shaped or saucer-shaped garden, designed to absorb stormwater run-off from impervious surfaces such as roofs and parking lots. Rain gardens can be small home-owner style gardens, large complex gardens, or anywhere in between.

Rain gardens capture stormwater runoff before it pollutes our local rivers - while providing beautiful garden scapes throughout the growing season.

Build a Rain Barrel

Rain Barrels made from a recycled plastic 55 gallon drum are available from the Water Treatment Plant for free.  If you are interested in the barrel send an email to: Environmental Commission email.

Why?  Reusing rainwater keeps rain water out of the storm sewer and avoids using treated city water for watering plants and lawns. The rain barrel water will be less of a shock on plants than cold tap water, and you save on your water bill too!

How Hard?  Not hard to do but requires some specialized tools

How Much Time?  1-4 hours depending on your skills

Where do I get the Parts? Excess plastic barrels can be obtained from the Saline Water Treatment Plant for free.  Complete barrels can be purchased for $45 by contacting this email

Additional parts needed to complete your rain barrel can be purchased at the following Saline stores: Junga Ace Hardware, or Chelsea Lumber.

There are many how to videos available to help you build your recycled rain barrel.

The Saline Environmental Commission has posted a video on how to construct your rain barrel using locally available parts:

https://vimeo.com/132712022 

See the Ask This Old House episode on how to make a rain barrel for $40

Links and Resources

The links and listings are provided for information purposes only. The following lists are not exhaustive or fully comprehensive, but we have tried to include a representative list of resources for each category. Saline's Environmental Commission makes no representations as to the workmanship, creditworthiness, or any other attributes of the companies listed or of their products or services.