PRC: Volunteers Needed For Delaware County Rain Garden Project

The PA Resources Council and the Eastern Delaware County Stormwater Collaborative is seeking volunteers to begin a project this Fall to build 36 new rain gardens.

If you enjoy the fun, sun and exercise of gardening, PRC East needs you!  Sign up now!

PRC needs to build a group of volunteers in each participating municipality who will work with their neighbors in local rain garden projects. With the health benefits of gardening, it’s a win-win opportunity for you and your community!

In densely developed areas with large areas of impervious surfaces, excess stormwater runoff is a critical pollution problem for our waterways. Rainwater runs off buildings, roads, and driveways into municipal stormwater lines leading to local streams, rivers and other waterways.

This runoff often holds pollutants like oil, fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals adversely affecting the health of the waterway and wildlife.

New federal and state regulations require each municipality to take responsibility for their share of this excess runoff, so simple Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects can help save your community the cost of expensive engineered solutions.

Rain gardens are one of the most simple and effective solutions to fighting runoff and its associated impacts.

The shallow bowl shape captures runoff long enough to filter through soil, breaking down the pollutants and preventing dangerous flooding during wet weather events (ie rainstorms).  

Large or small, these gardens can collectively have big impacts.

Every inch of rain falling on 1,000 square feet of impervious surface (such as roof or asphalt) results in 600 gallons of runoff.

The Philadelphia region averages 41 inches of rain per year, so a rain garden intercepting runoff from that area will capture, divert and filter nearly 25,000 gallons annually.  

That effect will be multiplied by the dozens of gardens that will be built, keeping millions of gallons of polluted runoff out of our waterways!

But PRC cannot do this exciting work without you!

The project is funded by DEP’s Growing Greener Program.

For updates on this program, upcoming installation dates, and to volunteer, visit PRC’s Watersheds, Rain Barrels And Rain Gardens webpage or contact Jayne Young by sending email to: young@prc.org.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA Resources Council website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates, follow PRC on Twitter or Like them on Facebook.  Click Here for PRC’s Events Calendar.

Share this post