information from King County

King County and City of Seattle will host a "Meet the Contractor" open house to share information about installing rain gardens and cisterns through the RainWise Program.

The event is set for Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden St., Seattle. It is the last RainWise contractor fair for this spring.

RainWise is a joint effort by King County and the City of Seattle to fight water pollution by offering rebates to eligible Seattle property owners that could cover up to 100 percent of the cost to install a rain garden and/or cistern.

Rain gardens are more than just beautiful, they help solve one of the largest sources of pollution for Puget Sound by naturally cleaning and controlling stormwater. Cisterns are large rain barrels that collect runoff from rooftops, which homeowners can use for watering yards and landscaping.

People will also be able to see actual examples of rain gardens and cisterns in the Highland Park Improvement Club’s courtyard, which won Sustainable Seattle’s prestigious Transforming Spaces Award. The project, which was partially funded by the RainWise Program and a King County Green Grant, entailed two rain gardens, a cistern, and the replacement of impervious parking blacktop with permeable pavers and plants.

The RainWise Program serves a number of Seattle neighborhoods. To receive a rebate, residents must live in an eligible Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) basin. For more information about the program call the Garden Hotline at 206-633-0224 or go to www.rainwise.seattle/gov.

By encouraging eligible Seattle residents to manage stormwater runoff through the RainWise Program, King County and Seattle Public Utilities can meet their goals to reduce CSOs that occur in local water bodies during heavy rains.

Additional information about King County’s CSO Control Program is available on the Web at www.kingcounty.gov/csocontrol.

Customer testimonials about the program are also available at: https://youtu.be/gpzkfe5iKsM