Growing Sustainable Water Solutions: Rain Gardens to the Rescue

Video by Sam Wolson Photography + Media. This collaboration of Keep Growing Detroit, Sierra Club and Friends of The Rouge educates and enables residents to build rain gardens, water catchment systems and healthy soils to help manage stormwater and conserve water. In the first two years of this three-year program, residents have planted 28 rain gardens capturing a total of 4,110 gallons of water per storm off of their rooftops, while three urban farms installed rain catchment systems capturing 3,245 gallons per storm. Keep Growing Detroit is developing a local native plant industry, using seed from the Michigan Wildflower Farm and hand collected on Belle Isle to grow 15 varieties of native plants in the greenhouse at Plum Street Market Garden.