As a way of creating wise and sustainable approaches to storm water management, rain gardens are getting special attention in an effort to make environmentally sufficient systems more aesthetically appealing. According to Carol Mayer-Reed, "The early engineering approach to rain gardens was to put a big hole in behind the building". An approach Portland is taking is an attempt to showcase them in the front of the building. These rain gardens help to qualify with LEED and sustainability construction and can be used as educational tools.
A rain garden is essentially a bioswale or shallow area to collect storm water runoff from impervious surfaces allowing the water to filter back into natural aquifers to help reduce pollution. Many of these areas are planted with specialized plants to help with the water filtration and absorption and will look good throughout the year.
Portland has been conducting many projects that retrofit current buildings and areas around town to include rain gardens or similar water runoff approaches. The article mentions that retrofitting these rain gardens after the fact can be hard to do, and feels this process can be a lot easier if rain gardens or other treatment options are put into the designs of new construction.
The reason I chose this article is because it was one of the ways EPA recommended storm water mitigations, as discussed in my previous blog, and can help buildings achieve a LEED certification while still being aesthetically pleasing. Rain gardens seem to achieve both a purpose and still look nice, but will they be feasibly possible to be implemented?
Article: http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?
Raing gardens seem like a very good idea, but your question as to whether or not they are feasible to implement is definitely a good one. I don't know what the cost is to make a rain garden aesthetically pleasing, but if it is not too great, and they also serve educational purposes, it may well be worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if this idea catches on in other areas. Lately, it seems like Portland has been making a pretty good effort to be a part of sustainable construction, but it would be great to see it spread out to more communities.