Home/Land Owners Resource Center

In Virginia, we receive an average of 45.2 inches of rain fall each year. That calculates into approximately 52,000 gallons of runoff from just one average sized (2,400 square feet), single-family home per year. Add in the driveway, garage, and other impervious surfaces (hard surfaces that do not let rain water infiltrate into the ground) in and around the yard, and you have a lot of small streams struggling to hold on.

Homeowners and renters often ask “What can I do?” when it comes to protecting the James River and the many streams and creeks that flow into it. One effective way to keep pollutants from making their way to local waterways is to manage rain water runoff. The good news is that you don’t have to be an engineer to put some rain water management practices into play.

Rain Barrels

For example, rain barrels are simple rain water collectors that capture and store a portion of the runoff from your roof. Holding back water from streams and creeks reduces the flow of rain water that can strip soil from stream banks as well as carry pollutants like excess fertilizer or pet waste directly to streams. Instead, you have a “stash” of free water to water your grass, garden, birdbath, etc. View JRA’s “How to Build a Rain Barrel” for easy to follow instructions on constructing your own barrel.

How to Build A Rain Barrel (PDF, 1.94mb)

How to Install A Rain Barrel (PDF, 661kb)

Rain Gardens

Another example for homeowner do-it-yourself is building a rain garden. Rain gardens are landscaped
areas planted with native plants, shrubs, and trees that that soak up rain water, often from the roof of a house or from higher ground. The rain garden fills with a few inches
of water after a storm and the water slowly filters into the ground rather than running off
to a storm drain. Compared to a conventional patch of lawn, a rain garden allows about
30% more water to soak into the ground.

Why are rain gardens important? As cities and suburbs grow and replace forests and
agricultural land, increased stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces becomes a
problem. Rainwater runoff from developed areas increases flooding; carries pollutants
from streets, parking lots and even lawns into local streams and reservoirs. This leads to reduced habitat for plants and animals and costly municipal improvements in stormwater treatment structures for humans.

To learn more about constructing your own rain garden, visit the Virginia Department of Foresty’s Rain Garden Guide: http://www.dof.virginia.gov/mgt/resources/pub-Rain-Garden-Tech-Guide_2008-05.pdf.

More Conservation Tips