SOAK UP THE RAIN WITH RAIN GARDENS

Gardening for Life, Concord Public Works Department and OARS 
present “Soak Up The Rain with Rain Gardens”  with Melissa Simoncini, Concord Water and Sewer Division; Chris Olbrot, Concord Public Works Engineer  and Alison Field-Juma,Executive Director of OARS, on Thursday, April 3 at 4 pm, at Junction Park  

Join us for a tour and talk about Junction Park and home-scale rain gardens.  Rain Gardens are bowl shaped depressions designed to absorb, infiltrate and treat up to 30% more water than the same size area of lawn. What a beautiful way to reduce flooding and improve water quality!  

Snow usually melts slowly and replenishes ground water. With the increase in extreme weather events, rain gardens help slow the flow of storm water, reducing flooding and erosion, allowing the precipitation to infiltrate and help recharge precious ground water supplies and reducing the threat of storm water damage. 

Storm water runs off our roofs, driveways and other impervious surfaces and picks up topsoil, oil, pesticides, bacteria and other pollutants as it makes its way through storm drains and ditches – untreated - to our streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean. Polluted runoff is one of the greatest threats to clean water in New England; it impacts our environment, economy, health and quality of life.

 Rain Gardens are designed to treat the runoff through the use of specialized soil composition and carefully selected native plants. Extra bonus: Learn how you can get your own Rain Barrel to capture water from your roof and store it for later use on lawns, gardens or indoor plants.

Meet us at Junction Park;  park at the West Concord Train Station. ''Rain Date at Fowler Library. Please RSVP by April 4 to deb01742@comcast.net.