Author note: This post was previously published under the title A Lesson on Stormwater Management Using Snippets from LET IT RAIN. The content remains the mostly the same.

On the day LET IT RAIN debuted, it rained. 

Someone better at marketing or with more bandwidth left after two weeks of illness followed by spring break would have used the weather as an opportunity. I’ll keep it in mind for next time. 

Much of the premise behind LET IT RAIN is subtly highlighting the impact stormwater has on our existence. That stormwater eventually ends up in a wetland and a proper bog witch cares for these diverse and important ecosystems.

I could quite literally write a whole book on large-scale stormwater infrastructure (someone please pay me to do this), but let’s keep it simple and look at three easy ways to care for these habitats using some excerpts from LET IT RAIN. 

The Water Cycle

Distilled to its most basic level, our water cycle is a closed loop. It rains, rain fills streams, streams fill rivers, rivers fill the ocean. Ocean water evaporates into the air, fills clouds, and the cycle starts over.

Somewhere in the middle of this cycle we collect some of that water (in wells or reservoirs), clean it, and pump it through pipes to be delivered for drinking, cleaning, and irrigation. The cleaner the water is when it hits streams and rivers, the healthier our swamps will be and the cheaper and easier water is to clean when it hits a water treatment plant. 

Rain Barrels

She set down her mug and walked over to the rain barrel at the corner of the patio. The cold, clear water rushed out of the spigot into a large plastic watering can. Cassie watched the water rise until it nearly flowed over the edge. As quickly as the vessel filled, Cassie emptied its contents into the planters and boxes that surrounded her modest patio.

Rain barrels are one of those projects that can be as intricate or as simple as you want them to be. The premise is the same: channel the water from your roof into a container. It lives there until your plants are sad and unhappy because it hasn’t rained in a while. 

I have two rain barrels that I use for irrigation and I tap into those before I use treated water from my spigot. This water is especially valuable during a drought when it’s really important to conserve water and use it wisely. My plants are low priority, but with my captured rainwater, I can help them get through the worst of the heat. 

Rain Gardens

Cassie carefully opened her door and stepped out onto the shoulder, her boots sinking into a particularly muddy spot. Next to her, Lucas kneeled on a soaked towel to cushion his knees from the hard, rocky pavement. 

In the water cycle, the ground works like a filter. Water seeps through soil and rock until it hits a path to open water. The longer it takes for water to filter through the earth, the cleaner it is when it hits a stream. But the ground has a limit for how much water it can process before it overflows. 

Gutters—like on your house and on the road—are great, but they exacerbate this problem by funneling the water into one place. If you’re pouring liquid through a funnel faster than it can empty, the liquid will overflow. 

Rain gardens are one way to manage this literal or proverbial overflow. Put simply, rain gardens are areas that contain plants that enjoy being flooded with water in between long times of dryness. 

Water is channeled into these gardens where it drains slowly while also being used as nourishment for these water-loving plants and a water source for all kinds of animals and bugs. To see this on a large scale, visit the North Carolina Museum of Art. Water runoff is collected in several rain gardens that run along one side of the parking lot.

I have two rain gardens. While only a fraction of the size of the one at NCMA, they provide many of the same benefits.

My bog garden is filled with carnivorous plants and catches overflow from the rain barrel next to it. For this one I repurposed an old water table and they’re already outgrowing it. This system is getting an overhaul and I’m just waiting for a free sunny weekend to do it. 

The second catches water directly from a gutter downspout. My cardinal flowers love it here and the tall red blooms are a favorite for my visiting hummingbirds. 

Native Plants

The plants in her flower beds looked like a mess of overgrown weeds, but Lucas knew that in a couple of months, they would fill in with a wash of color. Gardening and ecology were a safe topic for them. Whenever their conversation started to get too personal or too flirty, Cassie would often steer them toward dirt and compost or her latest bird sighting.

Rain barrels and rain gardens can be big projects, some of which aren’t realistic depending on where you live.

A small change that has a huge impact is planting more native plants. Plants that are native to your area require less water and less maintenance than plants that haven’t evolved to live in that ecosystem. My native plants are more resilient to longer stretches of heat and drought than the nonnative plants I put in years ago. This means the water stored in my rain barrels last longer. 

Making the switch to native plants can be an overwhelming endeavor and my biggest piece of advice is to do a little bit at a time. Pick a small spot and focus on that spot for the season. Maybe this year it’s just adding a few flower pots on your patio. Next year you tackle the small garden bed by the mailbox. The following year you plant a tree. 

This is how I’ve been doing it for years and it’s amazing to see the difference over time. It forces me to lean into nature’s rhythms and teaches me patience. It gives me something to look forward to without feeling overwhelmed by the planning and execution of the project. Each year I learn something new and building on that knowledge has been a lot of fun. 

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