Henry Street Rain Gardens

As part of a collaboration between the Henry Street Settlement, GrowNYC, and various volunteer groups, WE Design created an innovative water harvesting, retention, and filtration system at the organization’s headquarters in the Lower East Side. The network of green infrastructure systems forms a continuous “rain train,” diverting rainwater from the 1,300 sf rooftop into eight 50-gallon storage barrels to irrigate the existing courtyard and site plants. Excess water flows through a copper pipe to a raised planter garden, which is then connected to a lower in-ground rain garden, where it is filtered through layers of soil and gravel. Overall, the system diverts nearly 2,000 gallons of water, taking pressure off of the existing waste water system, which is often taxed by combined sewer overflows and flooding.

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