1. 1

2. 2 Health Education Family/Community Involvement Physical Education
Health Promotion for Staff
Health Services
Nutrition Services
Healthy School Environment
Counseling, Psychological and Social Services 2

3. Today we will explain the importance of Bioretention Areas (Rain Gardens) for Schools3

4. What is a rain garden?
Bioretention areas, or rain gardens, are landscaping features adapted to provide on-site treatment of stormwater runoff. They are commonly located in parking lot islands or within small pockets of land uses. 4

5. What is a rain garden?
Surface water runoff is directed into shallow, landscaped depressions. These landscaped depressions are designed to move the water through materials such as mulch, rock and soil to help filter it and remove unwanted materials. 5

6. What is a rain garden?
This filtering process can improve the water and aid many parts of our ecosystems. Rain gardens are applicable almost everywhere in the United States. In arid or cold climates, some minor design modifications may be needed depending upon the geological area. 6

7. How does a rain garden work?
During a storm and within the rain garden, water runoff will pond above the mulch and the soil.
Runoff from larger storms is generally diverted past the facility to the storm drain system.
The remaining runoff filters through the mulch and the prepared soil mix.
The filtered water will eventually return to the storm drain system. 7

8. How does a rain garden work?
Rain gardens are ideally suited to many ultra-urban areas, such as parking lots at shopping centers, businesses and schools. While they consume a fairly large amount of space (approximately five percent of the area that drains to them), they can fit into existing parking lot islands or other landscaped areas. 8

9. How does a rain garden work?
There are many siting and design elements that need to be considered before building a rain garden system:
Drainage
Conveyance
Slope
Maintenance
Soils and topography
Landscaping
Flood control
Filtration
Groundwater treatment
Climate 9

10. Benefits of a Rain Garden
Many school districts and superintendants consider installing rain gardens for many reasons, such as cost savings, classroom study and better water management It’s important to evaluate the costs of building a rain garden before installation. 10

11. Benefits of a Rain Garden
A rain garden can often take the place of an area that most likely would have merely been landscaped. Maintenance activities for rain gardens are not very different from those used for other landscaped areas. For about the same cost, a rain garden can better utilize an area while helping the environment. 11

12. Benefits of a Rain Garden
Rain gardens: - can improve existing landscaping - often have economic and educational advantages - may offer aesthetic benefits. 12

13. For more information about Rain Gardens: 13