Rain Gardens Help Spare City from Effects of September Flooding

The deluge of rain northern Virginia experienced last week didn’t leave Manassas Park devastated, partially because of a simple, but yet practical system.

 Rain gardens are man-made impressions in the ground designed to collect rainwater.

 There are five such gardens on the grounds of the and employees there say it really helped managed the large amount of rain that recently fell in the area.

 When it rains, the rain gardens fill up quickly, but the water disapates almost just as quickly,  D.C. Webb, Manassas Park park manager said this week.

 “ … you can come out here right after a shower and you can’t tell it even rained; there is barely any mud,” Webb said.

 City employees said that’s because of the unique design of the system. Each rain garden is a little lower than the next—like stair steps, so when one rain garden fills, some of the excess water flows down a stand pipe, also known as an intake pipe, into the next garden in the system. It eventually flows into a ditch with rocks at the back of the property where the water is disseminated from the area.

Water that doesn’t exit through the intake pipe is absorbed into the ground with the help of specially-selected shrubs, such as dogwood, river birch, lobelia, inkberry, beebalm and Japanese holly, Webb said.

 The shrubs in the rain gardens help absorb the nitrates and phosphorus and is a part of the water quality structure  of the city’s storm water management plan, Jay Johnson, Manassas Park Public Works director, said.

The rain gardens are more apart of the city’s water quality plan and not necessarily water quantity management, he added.

 The old community center building, which was once situated near the administrative wing of the current facility, didn’t have any rain gardens and would, at times, flood, Catherine Morretta, director of Manassas Park Department of Parks and Recreation said.

 “We’ve introduced ecosystems,” she said. “It’s interesting to watch the volume of water be managed.”

Webb said if not for the rain gardens, homes located near the property, such are the ones on Lambert Street, may be flooded.

 “If these weren’t here, where would the water go?” Webb said.

Manassas Park experienced some road closures as a result of flooding, but nothing like the in Prince William County last week. 

also experienced flooding.

Check out the extensive coverage of the flooding and all the informative follow-up stories by Manassas Patch editor Erin Gibson and Woodbridge Patch editor Lauren Jost.