Protecting Our Waters is King County’s program to prevent pollution caused by excess stormwater in the sewer system on rainy days. As an extension of that program King County offers grants worth up to $4000 for homeowners to have rain gardens or cisterns installed on their property.

The older parts of King County's wastewater system use a single set of pipes to carry both sewage and rain running off streets and buildings. Most of the time, this polluted water goes to a wastewater treatment plant. But in heavy rains, the pipes can overflow into rivers, lakes, or Puget Sound. Overflow points called “combined sewer overflows” or CSOs are built into the system. CSOs prevent sewer backups into homes and streets. In West Seattle two are currently under construction, the Barton Street CSO and the Murray Basin CSO.

At a special event in West Seattle on the first day of Spring King County held an information event to draw attention to the program. In attendance were contractor John Coghlan of Home Grown Organics, WSU Extension master rain gardener Lisa Haglund and RainWise Program experts with King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division. Coghlan said it takes his crew about three days to install one. They normally take up between 15 and 30 square feet.
Rain Gardens are primarily populated by rain tolerant plants of course but of the recommended edibles, berries top the list since any pollutants are not contained in them.

You can learn about how these areas in West Seattle are becoming Rainwise online
Barton and Fauntleroy area- http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wastewater/CSO/BeRainwise/BartonF…

Highland Park area
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wastewater/CSO/BeRainwise/Highlan…

The water released by CSOs is 10 percent sewage and 90 percent stormwater. CSOs may be harmful to people and animals living in the water because they carry chemicals and disease-causing germs. Since 1979, King County has reduced its overflows by 90 percent and succeeded in keeping more than 2.3 billion gallons of sewage and stormwater out of local waterways.

On March 16, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and King County made it possible for 14,000 more Seattle residents to get thousands in rebates for installing rain gardens in their yards.

According to SPU there are a total of 55,000 homes eligible for the Rain Wise rebates, since they are in the runoff area near a CSO.

They completed 230 last year with 600 total now in place and the goal for 2015 is 320 King County said.

You can check your eligibility for a rain garden or cistern online here http://www.rainwise.seattle.gov/