Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen officially opened Oak Bay’s first rain garden on Monday.
The garden is located adjacent to the Monterey Recreation Centre and Oak Bay Library and includes a variety of tolerant trees, shrubs and perennials designed as a low-lying landscaped area.
The purpose of the design is to capture rainfall and storm water from the adjacent parking lot. Below the surface, the engineered soil mimics the hydrological action of a healthy forest. The captured storm water is temporarily held, cleaned and reduced in volume once it enters the rain garden, which helps keeps our watersheds healthy.
“This new rain garden will be effective in removing as much as 90 per cent of the surface pollutants and 80 per cent of the sediment picked up from rainwater runoff, and will provide habitat for birds, butterflies and other fauna. We hope to install these gardens in other areas of Oak Bay where runoff is an issue,” said Jensen. “This unveiling was a fitting start to Oak Bay’s Eco Week and an example of the direction the Oak Bay Council is headed as we strive to be the greenest municipality in B.C.”