Lt. Governor Launches School Rain Gardens

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn launched the Illinois Rain Garden Initiative in June, a program designed to educate the public and provide "green solutions" to flooding and poor storm water management.

The initiative, introduced after counties along the Des Plaines River suffered from flooding last spring, creates basins full of native plants to soak up excess rainwater and reduce flooding. Rain gardens aid in reducing some effects of development, as concrete and buildings progressively replace wetlands and open spaces, said Rishi Garg, policy advisor for the Lt. Governor.

The initiative includes a schoolyard project, funded by the Bureau of Fish and Wildlife, which provides $500 grants to schools and community organizations interested in planting for educational purposes. In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy donates native seeds to participating schools from its large prairie re-creation at Fermilab. The schoolyard project currently includes eight Illinois schools and The Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford.

"The Lieutenant Governor believes if we can educate the youth to be environmental stewards at a young age, then maybe they will plant gardens later in life and will do what needs to be done in the community to take control of storm water management," Garg said.

The initiative anticipates a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to expand the scope of the program to include rain barrels and increased permeable surfaces, according to Garg. In the future, the program plans to use an Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model in schools, a tool that can measure the environmental impact of rain gardens. UFORE can calculate species composition and diversity, as well as gauge the impact of plants on air pollution, greenhouse gases, and global warming.

"What is unique about this project is that we're trying to bring low-cost water management solutions to the community while they're waiting for the necessary pumps and pipes," Garg said. "Green infrastructure isn't going to solve the problem on its own, but in conjunction with the more high-cost solutions it can lead to sustainable storm water management."

— Lauren Murrow