Rain Water Solutions

1. Rain Water Garden

The idea is to make the most of rain in the most creative ways you can.

Put simply, a rain garden is a shallow area of ground or dip which receives run-off from roofs and other hard surfaces. It is planted with plants that can stand waterlogging for up to 48 hours at a time. More drought-tolerant plants are used towards the edges. Generally we call theses zone 1 plants

Storm water fills the depression and then drains.

A channel of some kind will connect the roof downpipe to the dip. You can include other linking elements such as a water butt, rain chain, stormwater planter, or pond.

In this way, the whole garden could be considered a rain garden. However, more commonly, the low-lying area or dip itself, is defined as the rain garden.

Benefits of Rain Gardens
  • Low maintenance garden – no watering once plants have established
  • Can absorb up to 30% more water than a lawn
  • Offers opportunities to plant a wide range of perennials
  • Reduces erosion by slowing heavy rainfall
  • Increased planting attracts insects and birds
  • Avoids the need to sink a soak away

2. Vertical Rainwater Garden

We’ve created three vertical rainwater gardens in Ballinahown village – we are very much of early learning.
Historical Background

Vertical Gardens have a rich history dating back to ancient civilizations like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Various cultures have adapted vertical gardening to their needs. Rainwater Harvesting has also been practiced for centuries in regions with limited water resources.

Vertical Gardens maximize space utilization, improve air quality, and enhance biodiversity. Rainwater Harvesting involves collecting and utilizing rainwater for various purposes, reducing reliance on traditional water sources.

Benefits of Vertical Gardens
They save space, improve air quality, reduce pollution, and enhance biodiversity.
They conserves water, reduces reliance on municipal water supplies, and promotes self-sufficiency.
Plants growing in our rainwater garden are biodiversity friendly and/ or herbs for domestic use:
  • Thyme
  • Mint  
  • Rosemary 
  • Geranium
  • Lysmachia
  • Strawberries 

3. Rainwater Water Butts/ Planters

They’re plant boxes/ containers that collect rainwater from your roof. You can get/ make them in all shapes and sizes, and they work where you generally have downpipes from buildings that collect rain water that flows into storm water systems or septic tanks in rural areas; like our village – Ballinahown.

Rainwater planters/butts  hook up to your down pipe and usually sit right next to your building. They’re great for:

  • Adding colour and greenery
  • Attracting wildlife
  • Making use of rainwater right on your property
  • Rainwater attenuation during high rainfall 

Depending on how big they are, they can hold things like:

  • Shrubs /Herbs/Flowers – in our village where we have added them – we tried to plant with biodiversity friendly flowers, herbs and edibles.

In Ballinahown we have different types of rain water planters/ collectors /butts

  • IBC tanks 1000 litres
  • 400 litre green recycled plastic tanks
  • ‘Fancy’ grey butts/planters made from recycled plastic – sourced from www.tanks.ie .These water collectors / tanks are visually attractive and have planters at the top – the householders were happy to take them onboard – the households didn’t like the look of the standard green water butts.
  • Black recycled planters – upcycled from standard planters and lined with plastic to hold rain water – these are running parallel  with standard rain water butts. Earlier this year when we hosted a large group of LAWPRO officers in the village – one project was discussed regarding planters ‘put in series’ along a storm water drain in Cork – as the water flowed through the planters the water quality improved. This year we have linked two large black rain water planters ‘in series’ and in the coming year we plan to check the water quality held in them – to see what improvement if any there is in the water quality of the second planter over the first planter – nearest the down pipe.

What do rainwater planters do?

Rainwater planters help slow down rainwater coming from the roof. They use soil and plants to clean the water by filtering out dirt and pollution. This helps stop harmful stuff from getting into nearby rivers, streams and streams as is the case in Ballinahown village – we are slowing down the deluge of rain that comes all at once from going into the storm water system or septic tanks – and then into the river. 

The rainwater flows from the roof into the planter through a pipe. Most of the time, the water soaks into the soil. But when there’s a lot of rain, extra water builds up and may overflow. It can then go to:

  • The nearby drain (called a gully) and then slowly into the storm water. This slows the speed going into the river all at one time. 
  • In the case of a private house – this can overflow into their septic tank and then their overflow and into the river. This sends both clean rainwater and dirty waste into rivers. This pollutes the water. This is what our water management plan for our village addresses – cleaning the rainwater going into the river.

So our rainwater planters put rainwater to good use. A rainwater planter stops rain from going into the sewer. Instead, the water feeds plants in your garden or space. This helps nature and makes your space nicer.

4. Swale

A swale is a nature based solution designed to manage rainwater runoff by allowing water to collect, filter, and slowly soak into the soil, helping support local wildlife and protect our environment. 

Watch our video on what a swale is here