The Chester Ridley Crum Watersheds Association is promoting rain gardens as an attractive and affordable way for homeowners to reduce polluted runoff thanks to a grant from the PA League of Women Voters Water Resources Education Network.

Media Borough and Nether Providence Township feature demonstration rain gardens at their municipal headquarters and each will work with CRC and Aqua Pennsylvania to encourage residents to plant a “do it yourself” rain garden at home.

A rain garden is a depression planted with grasses, flowers, and shrubs that allows rainwater from hard surfaces to absorb into the ground instead of flowing into streams.

Rain gardens improve water quality in nearby streams and also serve as a beautiful alternative to lawn, enhancing curb appeal in residential neighborhoods. After large storms all of the water in a properly designed rain garden will absorb within 48 hours so they do not harbor mosquitoes.

Nether Providence Township and Media Borough will each host a community workshop on rain gardens, scheduled for May 3 and May 17, 2015, respectively. More details on the workshops will be available at Chester Ridley Crum Watersheds Associatio website in the spring.

The project will also produce new web materials and signs at the demonstration sites that connect homeowners with the information they need to build their own rain garden.

The project is funded by the PA League of Women Voters Citizen Education Fund through a Section 319 federal Clean Water act grant from the Department of Environmental Protection, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information, please contact CRC at 610-359-1440 or send email to: info@crcwatersheds.org.

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