Updated 04/26/2011 07:57 PM
Rain gardens help protect Onondaga Lake
It has rained for the past 10 days. Some of you may be wishing it away. If there's too much of it, it can cause problems in Onondaga Lake. But there are some green solutions that anyone can do. As our Iris St. Meran tells us, it's as simple as creating a garden.
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- April showers bring May flowers, but also concern for Onondaga Lake.
Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said, "Our ground acts like a brick. And the rainwater hits it and it runs off very quickly and it overflows into Onondaga Creek, the raw sewage into Onondaga Lake."
Mahoney created the Save the Rain program in an effort to prevent that. The program encourages some green solutions such as rain barrels and gardens to collect the water.
"What makes a rain garden different from a regular garden is it's slightly sunken in so it can capture some of that water. It typically has a flat bottom. We make sure that the soils are very porous so that the water can soak in," said Onondaga Environmental Institute Education and Outreach Coordinator Amy Samuels.
Many of these are sprouting up in parking lots and people's homes. You can even make one yourself. Cornell Cooperative Extension built one at Helen Walrath's home.
"It's great. If you like flowers, it's the best thing there is. And you got that water that holds the moisture. It's nice," said Walrath.
If you're not ready to have your own rain garden, you can use a rain barrel, which collects the water and you can water your lawn when it's dry out.
On a larger scale, storm water at the War Memorial will be captured and reused for a number of things including making the arena ice for Syracuse Crunch games. The county received a $700,000 grant through the state's Environmental Facilities Corporation.
So every effort both large and small will make an impact.
If you want to learn other ways to handle storm water, visit savetherain.us.