Kentucky Group Calls for 2,010 Rain Gardens by 2010

Kentucky's Bluegrass Rain Garden Alliance (BRGA) recently launched, with the support of corporations, small business owners, landscape architects, educators and homeowners, a new initiative called "2010 Rain Gardens by 2010."

"We want to get people talking together and start thinking about rain gardens and raise the awareness," said Russ Turpin, an organizer of the BRGA. They are more than just pretty backyard features, he added.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a consent decree that requires the city of Lexington, Ky., to invest up to $300 million in its sanitary and storm sewer systems. Rain gardens can help capture and treat polluted runoff, while replenishing groundwater supplies.

"Rain gardens are something everybody can do in their backyard, and it will help make a difference," said Senior Municipal Engineer Dave Gabbard. Getting businesses and malls with large parking lots involved will be a challenge, said local businessman Frank Whitehouse. Rebecca McCraith, a landscape architect, expressed her "strong desire" to encourage clients, most of which are commercial accounts, to address storm water runoff issues by installing rain gardens.

All who register their rain gardens online will receive a plaque commending their environmental efforts, according to Carol Hanely of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. For more information, visit www.kentuckypride.com.

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader