A Baltimore city church is leading the fight against stormwater runoff with a rain garden project that has been years in the making.
WATCH: Church builds rain garden to fight flooding
The rain garden at Miracle City Church represents a community-driven solution to flooding issues that have plagued Frederick Avenue. Church leaders say the planning process began 5 years ago, with construction starting 2 years ago.
"The planning of it actually started 5 years ago, but we started work 2 years ago," a project leader said.
The initiative began with a practical goal but evolved into something much larger.
"It was to actually to reduce the amount of our water bill, but then the secondary effects and probably the most important effect is that it decreases the amount of water that flows down to Frederick Avenue where we've had issues with flooding in the past," the leader explained.
The church recognized the urgent need for rain mitigation in 2018 when Frederick Avenue experienced severe flooding. The incident coincided with the devastating Ellicott City flood that year.
"They had this big flood in Ellicott City in which tremendous large portions of the city were flooded with a tremendous amount of rain, rainwater, but that happened also here in Baltimore right on Frederick Avenue where many people were driven from their homes as a result of the flood," a church representative said.
Project leaders hope rain gardens like this one will improve flooding in the area and remove excess nutrients that flow into the harbor, causing problems like fish kills and the pistachio tide.
"These are projects that are designed to deal with storm water during a heavy rainstorm naturally. So what happens is the water will flow off of any pavement here. Pretty much all of the water that flows off of the parking lot, the driveway will flow into this rain garden. Where it will slow down, filter through native plants, and return back to the water cycle slower and cleaner," a project leader said.
Church leadership and project partners at Bluewater Baltimore hope to see more rainwater garden installations throughout the city.
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