A few weeks ago Lisa Warner came to my house and talked to about a half-a-dozen or so Gang Greeners about rain gardens. (if you want me to be on the email list of this group send me an email at chuckackerman@sbcglobal.net). Folks brought shovels and were ready to dig and actually build one, but we couldn’t because it was raining!

Lisa had come earlier in the week and measured my roof (potential run off) and figured out what size the garden was going to be. She also did the homework on how many “rain events” this area gets and she did a “percolation” test to determine how fast my soil will take the water. Here’s the design she came up with:

What’s a rain garden? Here’s what Wikipedia says. Basically, I’m going to disconnect one of my downspouts and divert the rainwater to a kind of dug-out area in my front yard. I will then put some plants there that can withstand being in water for a period of time but also thrive when it doesn’t rain. Maybe I’ll make a nice stone or brick border. FYI, the city will be looking at (and hopefully passing) legislation that would allow residents to do this (without needing a variance). Right now it’s technically a no-no.

Here’s a picture of what a finished rain garden could look like

Why do I want to put one in?

1) Less yard area to mow
2) It will look great
3) I will help keep our rivers, streams and Lake Erie cleaner
4) I have to keep up with the Jones’, or in this case Emily and Aaron, my neighbors

A little more on reason three: The Cleveland area has a combined sewer and sanitary system. This means that the rain that your gutters and downspouts carry end up in the same place where all of your household drains end up. Which is kind of OK until there’s a big rain and the system can’t handle it. Then raw sewage ends up getting dumped in the lake and our rivers and streams. (Eeew!). This is called a “CSO” or combined sewer overflow.

Bobbi Reichtell tells me that, before the Regional Sewer District put in an “interceptor”, when there was a lot of rain you could see the brown water tumbling down Mill Creek Falls.

Also, when the rain comes off my roof, it takes some amount of the stuff my shingles are made of, oil in particular. This along with oil and other stuff from cars on driveways end up in our waterways. Redirecting it into the soil filters this stuff out before it gets to the aquifer or water table.

Since we didn’t get to dig, we’ll be doing it in the spring. Some neighbors and friends will help (I hope!) and then we’ll all do one at another Gang Greener’s house. I’ll let you know when right here.

Meanwhile, here are some good links with more info:

• Ohio Department of Natural Resources rain garden manual
• A manual on how to build a rain garden
• And RainGardens.org

Some Water Districts offer incentives, like “cost sharing” and discounted plants, read more about that here and here.

Since I’ve tried to live more green, I’ve struggled with the argument that one rain garden or one less power lawn mower or saying no to a few plastic bags a week really isn’t going to do anything. That what’s really needed is big, sweeping changes by government and/or the private sector. Individual acts are symbolic at best. I even read an article that argues individual efforts are counterproductive as they take the focus away from systematic change. I’ve read that the anti-litter campaigns of the 1970s were largely sponsored by the can and bottle companies to deflect calls for “bottle bills”. In other words, if the highways are strewn with beer cans, don’t blame the manufacturers, it’s us. We’re the problem.

This argument could apply to a lot of things such as does one vote really count?

A few thoughts:

I could wait all my life and not see sweeping changes. How could I honestly send an email to Senator Voinovich to stop opposing more aggressive federal mileage standards if I drove my car to the corner drugstore? Save me from myself Senator?

We need it all. Personal changes and big sweeping changes. We need to pick up the cans and make the companies make better alternatives. (If you haven’t read it, read the book “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”)

Changes are much more powerful when talked about. Instead of getting annoyed with the cashier who says “Are you sure you don’t want a bag?” (or worse, gives me one anyway) I need to tell her why I don’t want one.