If you thought that modern water treatment facilities can totally prevent household pollutants from contaminating our waterways, you better think again. Storm water runoff can pollute our waters by bringing toxic chemicals from our homes into storm drains or into our local water ways. This is why it’s a good thing there is what is known as a rain garden, a special kind of garden that can collect runoff water from our homes instead of allowing it to flow into storm drains and surface waters. It’s like a natural, organic part of your home that will help you with your natural cleaning.

A rain garden is built by digging a depression on the yard that can absorb runoff water from a house’s driveway, roof, yard and walkway so that it cannot cause soil erosion, water pollution and flooding elsewhere.

Ideally a rain garden can be built 10-15 feet from your house. A yard usually slopes down to a low point that naturally collects water after it rains, and this lowest spot is the perfect place to build your rain garden. Direct the course of the water from your roof or basement pump to your garden depression by constructing ditches or installing underground piping.

To build your rain garden, you need to dig out a shallow depression in this lowest portion of your yard. It will help if you dig a spot that is no more than 5 inches deep to prevent deep water from accumulating on it. This is a good technique if you are not keen on having mosquitoes as tenants in your rain garden because the rain water will be absorbed in a few days. However, if you are planning to let amphibians and fishes live in your rain garden, then making the depression a little deeper and lining a portion of it with plastic will surely help.

When choosing plants to place in your garden, choose native species or those that are found locally because they are the ones most tolerant of the local climate, as well as of the soil and water quality of your area. They also don’t require fertilizers so it will even be more environment-friendly because you can forgo any chemical implements. A collection of wetland plant species like sedges, rushes, wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and relatively small trees can help filter the water before it enters the groundwater system. These plants also serve as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon gases from the atmosphere and returning fresh oxygen to the air.

After doing your gardening, remember to wash your hands before rejoining your family. BabyGanics’ Fine & Handy Foaming Hand Soap helps keep your hands clean without exposing them to harmful toxic chemicals. It’s great for the environment too!