It’s tempting to leave the problem of stormwater runoff to cities, towns, and businesses to solve. But your house – and the roads, sidewalks, and driveway leading to it – also take away the landscape’s ability to soak up precipitation naturally.
That’s why many homeowners today are using small-scale green infrastructure solutions to reuse and slow down the flow of rainwater and snowmelt from their roofs and yards. Solutions can be as simple as buying a rain barrel and planting a rain garden. Or they can be more complex, such as adding a vegetated swale between your yard and the road. By capturing stormwater and reusing it, you reduce the flow that would normally be swept into the storm drain, and you save money on your water bill, too.
Many communities, organizations, and state agencies offer programs and resources to help you start greening your home landscape:
National: EPA Soak Up the Rain Program
Connecticut: Reduce Runoff
Maine: Think Blue Maine
Massachusetts: Massachusetts Watershed Coalition
New Hampshire: Stormwater Management for Homeowners
