Community Rain Garden Partnership

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

Clackamas County’s Water Environment Services department (WES) provides surface water and wastewater management services on behalf of Clackamas County Service District No. 1 (CCSD #1 or District). The WES Surface Water Management Program’s goals include overall watershed health, protection, enhancement, and restoration stewardship. To help reach these goals, WES in 2013 implemented a surface water management project called the Community Rain Garden Partnership to focus on the following: • Improve water quality within the service district for public health and the environment • Keep polluted storm runoff out of streams • Install highly visible drought tolerant rain gardens within communities • Educate community about watershed health and impacts to water quality • Educate community about Low Impact Development (LID) • Engage communities in hands-on learning • Promote lifelong stewardship of water quality and wildlife habitat The results of the Community Rain Garden Partnership include beautiful, functional and sustainable rain gardens that raise awareness of the importance of watershed health throughout the District and the county—one rain garden at a time.