Even small rain gardens help Bay.(LIFE - HOME)(GARDENING)

Washington Times, The, June, 2007

Byline: Ruth Hepner, THE WASHINGTON TIMES It might look like no more than a drop in the bucket, a proposal by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay for rain gardens to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the Bay. It is, indeed, just one small step home gardeners might take to help. The plan is for homeowners to build rain gardens to minimize storm-water runoff from their properties.

Storm water washes pollutants into streams and rivers and smaller tributaries and then into the Bay, the alliance notes. If you plant a rain garden, rainwater from your roof, gutters, downspouts and any paved area on your property can be filtered by the plants and held temporarily in a detention area until it seeps into the soil. At the heart of a rain garden, the...