NW Real Estate Center

Real Estate Professionals

Everett rain gardens offer solutions to pollution

EVERETT, Wash.-- "Both of them are funneled then into the pipe that discharges into the rain garden," says Sharyn Gerhardt. She's pointing towards the downspout off the roof that disappears underground. Gerhardt loves to show off the newest landscape features at her Everett home.

"It absorbs that water, so that water isn't going to overload our storm drains. That's one of the reasons to have a rain garden. Most people think there's going to be a pond there -- there isn't," Gerhardt explains.

Improving water quality in Puget Sound is one of the three pillars of helping our salmon and southern resident killer whales recover. Everett is one of many communities getting on board with getting homeowners personally involved in keeping potentially toxic runoff out of our waterways. And while you think one little rain garden can't make all that much of an impact, the math shows otherwise.

Lawns are as American as apple pie, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that runoff from lawns, sidewalks and pavement accounts for 70% of all water pollution. And the numbers from one house really does add up. For a 1,000-square-foot home, one inch of rain equals 500 gallons. Everett sees about 37 inches of rain annually. So, that multiplies out to 18,500 gallons of storm water that don't end up in Puget Sound.