Resources
Although rain gardens are somewhat new to Ohio, there have been many successful projects all across the country for years. Below are some resources for both residential and commercial rain garden projects:
Documents
- EPA’s Rain Garden Research Program briefing (PDF)
- Burnsville, Minnesota neighborhood rain garden project case study (PDF)
- Seattle’s neighborhood rain garden plans (PDF)
- Geauga SWCD Rain Garden Manual(PDF)
- Filtrexx Rain Garden Specs from their Low Impact Design Manual (PDF)
Calculating amount of water received in a rain garden
In order to calculate how much water your rain garden will receive in a year, follow these steps:
1. Calculate your drainage area (square feet) entering the rain garden.
2. Multiply your drainage in square feet by 0.625. This will give you how many gallons of water from a 1″ rain event collect on your drainage area.
3. Multiply that number by your local precipitation in inches. (In Central Ohio, we get 38.5 inches of precipitation per year.) This number will tell you how many gallons of storm water your rain garden receives in one year.
4. Example: My rooftop that drains to my downspout that is disconnected and directed to my rain garden is 240 square feet. 240 sqft. x 0.625= 150 gallons of water from a 1″ rain event. 150 gallons x 38.5″ rain per year = 5775 gallons of storm water per year coming to my rain garden! (This calculation is from the Rain Garden Network.)
