UNE’s rain garden featured in ‘Private University Magazine’
UNE’s rain garden was featured in a recent print and online issue of Private University Products and News (PUPN) magazine. The article incorporated a story by UNE Communications Specialist Jennie Aranovitch on the rain garden, which first appeared on the UNE website, along with stories about two other college campus rain gardens—at Messiah College and Lynchburg College.
"Building a College Rain Garden: An Ecologically and Visually Pleasing Solution" recounts the collaboration of five UNE faculty and staff members to secure grant funding through an Environmental Protection Agency sub-contract through the Maine Campus Compact to create a rain garden on the Biddeford Campus, where a solution was needed to mitigate the effects of storm water run-off.
Aranovitch explained the distinctive problem faced by the Biddeford Campus. "While the rolling hills and proximity to the Saco River lend aesthetic charm to UNE’s Biddeford Campus, its uneven topography coupled with its closeness to the Saco River present a unique environmental challenge," she wrote. "Rain water, carrying environmental pollutants, flows from areas of high elevation to low elevation and makes its way through underground pipelines in the campus that eventually release the rainwater into the river. Additionally, the downhill flow of rainwater erodes soil."
Jordan Tate (Environmental Science, ’15) volunteered as an intern for the rain garden project and oversaw much of the work on it—work that was performed collaboratively by students from a variety of environmental and citizenship classes.
The rain garden, home to 17 native plant species, is complete with a rain gage, pebbled walking path, cedar bridge, and an Adirondack-style chair made completely out of recycled milk jugs. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the garden in September of 2014.