Mr. Ormsby installed a rain garden on his residential property to help control large volumes of stormwater runoff that were flowing over his property and causing erosion. In order to install the garden, all of the turf grass was removed from the front yard and replaced with an 84 ft2 rain garden and surrounding conservation landscaping. The rain garden captures runoff from the Ormbsy rooftop as well as runoff from neighboring properties. Since installation of the rain garden, several severe storms have demonstrated that the erosion issues have been mitigated and runoff has been reduced. An overflow system was incorporated into the design but has never been used because the rain garden drains so well. Further, due to the elimination of turf, the project has reduced the irrigation and mowing maintenance needed on the property and also reduced runoff pollution from grass fertilizer. This DIY project cost about $3,500 for materials. The project includes several aesthetic and creative functional features. In addition to treating runoff from homeowner’s property, the project also helps to solve an erosion problem and also treats additional off-site runoff. The DIY aspect of this project is inspiring, and the low-budget cost makes this feasible for replication at other residential properties. In fact, the property owner is a homebuilder who plans to use his project to encourage the installation of rain gardens for other properties on which he builds homes.
To learn more about this year’s winners, visit the project folder on our google drive here.
