10,000 Rain Gardens

In an effort to conserve water and help the environment, Kansas City is implementing a new initiative called: 10,000 Rain Gardens.

Mayor Kay Barnes, Johnson County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Annabeth Surbaugh and Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields came together to call for regional participation in the environmental initiative called 10,000 Rain Gardens.

The goal is to actively engage homeowners, churches, businesses, non-profits and schools in a voluntary effort to reduce wet weather problems such as flooding, sewer backups and dangerous pollution of our streams and rivers.

Tom Jacobs, of the Mid-America Regional Council, encouraged government leadership by example at the municipal and county levels to create a national model of citizen action. The most important thing is to get people involved and take responsibility for water quality.
More on rain gardens

A rain garden is a shallow basin filled with native plants that hold and filters rain. The gardens are a way for homeowners and businesses to capture runoff in a small bowl-like garden that is planted and maintained with garden-worthy native plants whose roots grow deep into clay soils common to our area. Such gardens serve as mosquito death traps.

Rain gardens can have a powerful cumulative effect in reducing pollutants in our rivers and streams, such as fertilizer and pet waste. Native plants are drought-tolerant, require no fertilizer, support wildlife, look great and their deep roots help water to infiltrate into the soil instead of into the stormwater system.

To order your copy of “How to Build a Rain Garden”, email us at info@outpostworldwide.com or call us toll free at 866.843.5354. Copies are $9.99 plus $5 S&H.