So...How is

[mermaid]

a rain garden beneficial?

[DiverQueen]

Rain gardens slow down the water from hard surfaces like driveways and roof tops from flowing directly into our streams and waterways.  When water flows directly off these surfaces into culverts and storm sewer systems, they also carry with them oil and gas leakage from cars, grass clippings and leaves, general trash.  (Grass clippings and leaves make algae worse and our lakes green...Please don't discharge them into the gutter when you mow the lawn!) 

This is why we see all the (%@p in all the lakes.....

Rain gardens give the water a resting place to soak into the landscape and be used instead of running off.  We have a depression in the front yard where an elm tree used to be.  One of the rain gutters discharges near there.  Two of the other downspouts go to rain barrels so I can water my other plants with the rain water.

If you've been to Square Lake on the County Park side lately, they did some landscape sculpting to create swales and ways to slow the flow of water off the parking lots so it doesn't muck up our dive site.  I still wish they could have replaced one of the stairways with a ramp to roll my dive gear down!~