APRIL 2023 | VOL. 22
THE OUTSIDER Illinois Extension Horticulture serving Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, and Stark
RAIN GARDENS GALORE April showers bring May flowers but rainstorms do more than that. Rain events and seasonal patterns in Illinois are shifting. The water delivered in these storm systems can be a blessing or a curse depending on how much water arrives in the storm, how intense the storms are, seasonal conditions, and the condition of the landscape. As stewards of the landscape, people are able to influence only one of these factors impacting stormwater management. Water that arrives in a storm that does not soak into the ground is considered stormwater runoff and must go somewhere. Surface cover impacts the degree ability of stormwater to infiltrate the soil profile or drains off the area where it originally fell. Water that falls on natural areas such as trees and woodlands, gardens and planting beds, and lawns can enter the soil and regenerate groundwater reserves. Land covered by impervious surfaces such as streets, parking lots, and buildings does not have the ability for water infiltration thereby creating water runoff and increasing the amount of stormwater going into natural bodies of water. Stormwater runoff can carry impurities and debris from these impermeable sites into natural water resources, leading to pollution and degradation of water quality.
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
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