harmony Park Rain Garden Implementaion West Grove Borough
In 2016, the Dockstader Foundation supported a new program spearheaded by the White Clay Watershed Association and the Brandywine Conservancy called Catch the Rain. The Catch the Rain program educates, encourages, and provides monetary incentives for voluntary implementation of green stormwater practices such as rain gardens and tree plantings. In 2019, the White Clay Watershed Association applied for additional funding to specifically help a local municipality, West Grove borough, develop a green stormwater infrastructure plan for the entire borough, and implement a Catch the Rain demonstration project in a public space. The implemented project is a rain garden located in front of the Avon Grove Public Library and West Grove Municipal Building. This garden will assist the municipality with attaining water quality standards mandated by the states through their stormwater permits while also serving as a public demonstration practice for the Catch the Rain program.
In 2021 we completed our second demonstration rain garden in Harmony Park. The 1030 square foot rain garden was installed and planted in October 2021. It collects water from an 8000 square foot portion of the adjacent parking lot. Water is directed to the garden via three stone inlets. A perforated pipe is buried below the garden that can be connected as an overflow to a storm drain if needed. This was done proactively in case the garden failed to drain properly, the overflow could be connected to the existing storm sewer system. That does not appear to be the case, but we wanted to ensure that the garden would not have to be dug up should the drain be necessary. This rain garden will collect and clean approximately 173,091 gallons in one year of typical rainfall. Rainwater that would have otherwise ran overland directly to the existing storm sewer system with no treatment and to the adjacent soccer fields which already take on a lot of water and are poorly drained. In boroughs like West Grove, where open space is limited, smaller green infrastructure practices like rain gardens help alleviate flooding and other stormwater-related issues like water pollution.