Clean and healthy water and green space is more important than ever. Help expand Friends of the Rouge's work to address environmental justice by creating residential rain gardens that solve clean water and flooding issues. Friends of the Rouge empowers Detroit-area residents to design, create and install their own rain gardens to fight water pollution and flooding and benefit the health of their community, the Rouge River and us all.
Whether for drinking or play, clean water is a fundamental human right. Due to older communities', like Detroit's, antiquated sewer system, sewage still gets dumped into Southeast Michigan's Rouge River every year during major storms. Stormwater runoff and flooding problems in Metro Detroit directly threaten the fundamental value of clean water for residents, while also harming the environment, the Rouge River and drinking water for Lake Erie communities.
Rain gardens! These work-horses of the residential lawn capture rain runoff and divert stormwater from flooding our streets, sewer system and rivers. Rain gardens solve problems: they filter water pollution, create butterfly and bird habitat, and add vibrant color to boring lawns. Residents work with expert landscape designers to design their rain gardens. On planting day, 10 volunteers pitch in to build the rain garden and, in so doing, learn to build their own, amplifying the impact.
Friends of the Rouge aims to build 5,000 rain gardens by 2035 in Detroit to help ensure clean water for Detroit's children to enjoy. Rain gardens installed in 2019 now filter and keep 72,000 gallons of water from flooding - every time it rains! Year after year, rain gardens clean up polluted water, reduce flooding, add bird & bee habitat and create seasonal beauty. Every rain garden provides a lifetime of benefit and advances a healthier Detroit, Rouge River watershed and a healthier Michigan.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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