The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) is hosting its annual plant sale to encourage people in Milwaukee and surrounding areas to plant rain gardens outside of their homes.
Planting rain gardens can help reduce pollution and reduce the amount of water that comes into the city’s sewage system.
Rain gardens also provide ecosystems for species of insects and animals that are native to Milwaukee, oftentimes not having these places to inhabit with Milwaukee being primarily a metropolitan area.
Jay Feiker, MMSD Project Manager said that the two core functions of MMSD are to cleanse dirty water that comes through treatment plants and to manage flooding in the city.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
“In some parts of the city, the older parts especially, rain water goes through the same pipes as the sewerage water and in those areas we’re really trying to reduce how much of that rain water leaves your property. We want to prevent it from coming into the treatment plants because it’s already clean,” Feiker said.
Stormwater runoff is the number one source of water pollution.
Feiker said that when rain water leaves somebody’s property, that water carries trash, bacteria and oil through to the sewer system and directly into Milwaukee’s rivers. Apart from polluting the city’s bodies of water, this can also cause flooding.
To start your own rain garden, you can buy native grasses and wildflowers to incorporate into your garden.
Or, you can visit the MMSD online plant store and pick out a plant kit, most of which have species that are either native to Milwaukee or are known to thrive in the city’s climate and environment. After ordering, you can pick up your kit on June 15 at MMSD’s headquarters downtown. The sale runs through April 4 or until MMSD sells out.
“With a rain garden you can catch all of the water, there’s also benefits to the person that lives there. With the plants that we recommend, they create habitats for birds, insects, butterflies and bees which are so critical for pollination.,” Feiker said.
