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Tiered Rain Gardens Installed at SCCC

The SCMUA-Wallkill River Watershed Management Group worked with the Newton Department of Public Works to install a series of casacading rain gardens near parking lot 9 at Sussex County Community College. The rain garden project is part of the SCMUA-WRWMG’s National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant that aims to install green infrastructure stormwater management projects at the elementary, middle, high school, and community college in Newton, NJ.

The SCCC Intro to Botany class helped plant native flowers and shrubs in the rain gardens to slow the volume of stormwater runoff that races down the steep hillside during heavy rainfall events. Stormwater will fill each rain garden during rainstorms and the polluted runoff will naturally be treated (cleaned) as the water gets filtered by the plants. The rain gardens will help to reduce the pollutants that enter the nearby Paulins Kill River.