Final Project

Water Retention and Community Engagement: United in Crisis

Next Steps

The next step that we should take in order to resolve our problem of water infrastructure has to do with community gardens. However, we are specifically looking at rain gardens, which I will expand more on shortly. We believe that rain gardens can be a good way to help reduce flooding from the rain water that runs off of roofs, driveways, streets, as well as other things. The community that we would be implementing these solutions into is East St. Louis, Illinois. It is a city that has faced devastating flooding for many decades. These rain gardens will help to combat the overflow of water that gets stuck above ground, giving it a place to go.

Firstly, to give more information about rain gardens, they are defined as “a depressed area in the landscape that collects rain water from a roof, driveway or street and allows it to soak into the ground” (United States Environmental Protection Agency). These rain gardens have a lot of uses that can help the community as well as the habitat it resides in. Some of those uses are that they can provide food for butterflies, song birds and other wildlife while simultaneously providing shelter. Rain gardens can also filter out certain pollutants in runoff by slowing down the water flow, allowing the roots to take in nutrients as well as filter out those pollutants. This ties into the topic at hand because rain gardens can reduce runoff from your property which can help to combat excessive flooding. The way the gardens reduce that runoff is during the same process of filtering out pollutants, which is when the depressed area of the garden collects the runoff water coming from the multitude of areas on and around your property. However, a disadvantage to rain gardens is that if it isn’t designed properly it can lead to flooding. So, these rain gardens would need to be designed properly to carry out the advantageous duties(Oregon State University).

Secondly, the community we would be implementing these rain gardens into would be East St. Louis, Illinois. This city has been facing disastrous flooding for decades leaving the city with prolonging issues. An example of these floods is the Great Flood of 1993, and this flood was “unprecedented and has been considered the most costly and devastating flood to ravage the U.S. in modern history” (National Weather Service). It occurred on August 1st, 1993 where “the Mississippi River at St. Louis crested at 49.58 feet, the highest stage ever recorded” (National Weather Service). Situations like these have been happening to this community for so long, leaving them in constant fear of when the next flood will happen. Every heavy rain that pours down on this city threatens the chance of flooded streets and houses. Looking at the demographics for East St. Louis, it is estimated by the United States Census Bureau that in 2023, 94.6% of the population was Black or African American. In addition to that the median household income in 2022 was $28,519, and it was estimated that 31.6% of people were in poverty, compared to the 11.6% for the state of Illinois as a whole (United States Census Bureau). Those demographics show that this city is constantly being systematically neglected while the community doesn’t have the funds to advocate for improvements and change to address the flooding issues.

The third thing I want to talk about is the solutions for this problem. I have already explained what rain gardens are, as well as how they function. However, I now want to further explain the next steps that we will take in order to get closer to resolving this problem. In order for us to make an action plan to address the problem, we must get involved with the community. We need to ask the residents what they know of water retention, as well as if they currently have any solutions in place to try and fix this problem. We also need to keep the community up to date with solutions we believe will help so we can run them by the residents. In addition to that, we need to talk with the mayor about ways we can implement solutions that we and the community have come up with. By including the community in our next steps, we can make sure that we come up with a solution that actually helps the people being affected.

In conclusion, in order to help solve our problem of water infrastructure, we decided that implementing rain gardens into the community will help to reduce flooding in a cost-effective way. Rain gardens are an option that is not as expensive as some others are, especially when native plants are used in these gardens, which would come in handy since the community we are working with do not have large amounts of funds to advocate and carry out solutions to solve this problem. Also, by including the community in our efforts to resolve this problem, we will be getting feedback and suggestions that will allow us to come up with solutions that help the community as well as the people who live there.

Works Cited

“Soak Up the Rain: Rain Gardens.” United States Environmental Protection Agency,   Environmental Protection Agency, 30 Aug. 2024, www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain-gardens. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024. 

US Department of Commerce, NOAA. “The Great Flood of 1993.” National Weather Service, NOAA’s National Weather Service, 16 Aug. 2018, www.weather.gov/lsx/1993_flood#:~:text=On%20August%201st%2C%201993%2C%20the,the%20U.S.%20in%20modern%20history. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024. 

Pokorny, Kym. “Rain Gardens Help Keep Pollutants out of Waterways.” Oregon State University – Newsroom, Oregon State University, 9 June 2023, news.oregonstate.edu/news/rain-gardens-help-keep-pollutants-out-waterways-0. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.

“U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts: United States.” U.S. Census Bureau, 2023, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045223. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.