Author: Amanda Gumbert
Planning Unit: Agriculture and Natural Resources Programs
Major Program: Backyard Streams
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
As impervious surfaces increase in urban areas stormwater management likewise becomes increasingly important. A rain garden is an example of a stormwater best management practice to protect water quality in urban landscapes. Students at Redwood Cooperative School in Lexington, KY, identified the need for a rain garden at their school. With the help of their school director, Redwood leadership team students requested the assistance of an Extension Specialist for Water Quality at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food & Environment. The specialist worked with the students to develop and implement a plan for constructing a rain garden on the school grounds, including partnering with a local private environmental consulting firm to help with installation. Students worked throughout the school year to explore existing water quality restoration areas (on UK’s campus); explore their school grounds and create a map of impervious surfaces; calculate square footage of impervious surfaces and determine volume of runoff from a 1” rain event; design their rain garden; present their project ideas and solicit input from other students; determine a planting plan for the rain garden; and start seeds of native plants for the garden. The culminating event was the installation of a 20’ x 25’ rain garden during Earth Day (April 2019) festivities at the school. During the installation all students had the opportunity to participate by adding gravel to the drainage way, installing plants, or applying mulch. At least one class utilized the excavated material and bowl of the garden to explore positive and negative number sequences. Although the rain garden is not large enough to capture all of the runoff from the school, it collects a significant portion of the runoff and provides filtration before releasing it into the watershed. In addition to providing stormwater treatment the rain garden will serve as an outdoor learning space for the entire school. Further, excess excavated material was made into a sodded mound for physical exploration. Students will be able to explore the water cycle, watershed dynamics, land use, native plants, and other STEM topics well into the future.
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