Rain gardens: Something everybody can do to tackle what seems like an impossible problem



SEATTLE, Wash. -- Friday was the final day for local non-profit Long Live the Kings’ “Survive the Sound” 12-day migration game, tracking salmon and steelhead on their journey through the Puget Sound.

The game was created to raise funds and awareness about the problem. But there are some hands-on ways you can take action about this growing problem as well.

A rain garden may be one solution, according to Aaron Clark, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Stewardship Partners, who also runs the campaign ‘12,000 Rain Gardens’ in Seattle.

Clark says rain gardens are an easy-to -build, cost effective way to filter toxic storm water or run off that are killing salmon in the Puget Sound. Something you can build right from the comfort of your own yard.

“We’ve got collard greens and kale growing up in the back and peppers and tomatoes,” said Clark, walking around his front yard. “They just really love the rain water.”

Clark wants to make sure salmon remain around for his children when they older.

"We’re looking at a very real possibility that we would not have orca whales when they have kids of their own. The declines in salmon and orca populations are that severe and that extreme.”

That’s why he’s teaching his three boys to act from their front yard, building a rain garden along with a cistern that funnels the water into it.

“They take the rain water that comes off of our roof from all the way over there,” said his 9-year-old son Earl, walking around the yard. “It comes down to the cistern. And then on this side there’s a spigot where the cistern lets out the water.”

The boys love watering the garden - but technically they don’t need to.

“From the cistern to the rain garden there’s a little underground pipe that comes all the way down to here and it flows out here all winter long,” said Clark, pointing it out. “It keeps this area pretty saturated.”

The plants soak up the water, but they’re also drought tolerant. Ideal for when rain values vary throughout the seasons.

Essentially, they act as a giant sponge filtering polluted storm water before it reaches the Puget Sound.

“When people started to look at why salmon populations were declining, why orca populations were declining—they looked at all the different things that were causing damage to the environment in Puget Sound. They realized that runoff, this water coming off the roofs and roads, it’s coming from every corner of the city that is really the biggest source of pollution,” said Clark.

But when you use plants to filter out the storm water - dirty, polluted storm water starts to be replaced by somewhat cleaner water. In fact, some of those toxins that destroy salmon become beneficial nutrients to the plants.

“This is a type of blueberry. It actually makes pink berries that are still delicious,” said Clark pointing, out a few of the plants in the garden. “We’ve got some day lilies. We’ve got some irises up around the edges. We’ve got some cone flowers that aren’t in bloom yet. A bunch of different types of grasses and ornamental plants.”

The colorful variety of plants are placed in a “bowl shaped” plot along the south part of his property.



“Rain gardens are really a way to kind of get a thousand band aids out there,” said Clark.

The rain garden is fun for children – but he also says it’s just capitalizing on something we see so much of around Seattle.

“It’s very much a lemonade out of lemons situation, where you know we’re known for the water that we get," Clark said. "For the rain. We’re sort of the rain capital of the country and for us to know how to use it and to treat it like a real resource instead of trash.”

Since Clark started the 12,000 rain gardens campaign in 2011, he estimates at least 4,000 have been built in the Seattle area, but suspects more are out there.

If you live around Seattle you be eligible for a rebate through a program called RainWise that will cover the cost or most of the cost to have one professionally installed by a landscape contractor.

Click here for Seattle rebates and a look at other cities offering incentives.