For Immediate Release:

August 13, 2010

 

Rain gardens to be installed at Brookdale

Aim is to prevent pollutants in parking lot runoff
from entering reservoir

 

FREEHOLD, NJ – To help keep pollutants from entering the Swimming River Reservoir, a source of drinking water for many, Monmouth County will begin building five rain gardens around one of Brookdale Community College’s parking lots that lies nearest the reservoir.

 

The rain gardens are expected to cost $75,800 and will be paid through a $33,300 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with a local in-kind county match of $42,500, its partners and local volunteer corps. The DEP notified the county about the grant award last week.

 

“Rain gardens are an increasingly popular method of keeping clean, fresh rainwater out of our sewer systems, thereby reducing pollution and preserving our reservoirs and streams,” Freeholder John D’Amico said. “The plants, mulch and soil break up the pollutants and make them inert, not harmful.”

 

The rain gardens to be installed at Brookdale Community College will be located strategically around Parking Lot No. 1, in areas where the rain water has been observed to collect as it runs off of the parking lot. The parking lot is located next to the Swimming River Reservoir, in Lincroft.

 

“From higher education institutions to elementary schools, rain gardens are making an impact here in Monmouth County,” Freeholder Deputy Director Robert D. Clifton said. “Earlier this year the freeholders heard from the students and the staff of the H.W. Mountz and St. Catharine’s schools in Spring Lake, who explained the importance of rain gardens.”

 

A rain garden is a shallow depression that is planted with deep-rooted native plants and grasses. They are usually positioned near a runoff source like a downspout, driveway or sump pump to capture rainwater runoff and stop the water from reaching the sewer system.

 

“The county already has a couple of rain gardens in place,” Freeholder Director Lillian G. Burry said. “The 4-H Bird and Butterfly Rain Garden outside the county Agricultural Building in Freehold is a demonstration garden that provides residents a place to gain practical gardening knowledge from experts – our Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service staff and Master Gardeners. At Thompson Park in Lincroft there is a rain garden behind the Visitor Center to help recharge the rainwater while naturally buffering the building from the nearby parking area.”

  

“Brookdale’s effort to install a rain garden is a great example of how Monmouth County is looking at ways to go green,” Freeholder Amy A. Mallet said. “Reducing nonpoint source pollution, like rainwater runoff from parking lots, is important and supports our sustainability efforts.”

 

“It only takes a quarter-inch of rainfall runoff from the average roof to completely fill the typical 55-gallon barrel,” Freeholder John P. Curley said. “So, the same amount of rainfall on a larger area like a parking lot can fill these rain gardens and efficiently allow nature to filter the runoff water before it heads back to our water supply.”

 

The grant was submitted by the Monmouth County Environmental Council and will be administered by the Monmouth County Planning Board.

 

Other partners in the project are the Monmouth Coastal Watershed Partnership, New Jersey American Water Co., Brookdale Community College’s Environmental Science Department and New Jersey Community Water Watch group, Monmouth County’s High Technology High School, Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service, Monmouth County Master Gardeners, Middletown Environmental Commission and several Brookdale and High-Tech high school student clubs.

 

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