What is a rain garden?
At its most basic a rain garden is an area where an area of land has been dug out, filled with a suitable planting soil, and then planted with plants that can cope with the soil being waterlogged for short periods of time.
This area of new soil is designed so that the water flowing into the rain garden is retained within the soil and then infiltrated into the ground. This is beneficial in terms of rain water as the plants and soil in the rain garden reduce the local flooding risk and ensure that less water flows into the sewers. However the additional benefits are more than just water and include increased biodiversity by providing areas for new plants, attractive spaces for recreation and making the area more pleasant to be in through a reduction in the urban heat island effect. Rain Gardens are just one component of Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SuDs), and like all SuDs are designed to mimic a drainage system closer to that of a natural system. Please check out the excellent short video by CIRIA below, which explains this idea really well:
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