How to Make a Rain Garden, With Dr. Mike Dietz

A rain garden is a planted depression in the landscape designed to reduce pollution from storm water runoff. They are being used all around the country to help keep water clean and to beautify residential landscapes. This workshop, presented by Dr. Mike Dietz, will provide a brief introduction to rain gardens, focusing on how to properly site, size, install, and maintain them. A new smartphone app for rain gardens, developed by CLEAR, will also be demonstrated.

Mike is a water resources educator, with primary responsibilities for running the CT NEMO Program. Mike’s position is jointly held between the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program at the Avery Point campus. He received both his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, focusing on stormwater and low impact development (LID) techniques. Upon his graduation, he worked with the Connecticut NEMO program from 2005 to 2007 on projects related to LID. He left Connecticut in 2007 to take a position at Utah State University as an assistant professor and extension specialist in sustainable living, where he continued to work on stormwater monitoring and LID, in addition to green building, energy conservation, and water harvesting. He was director of Utah House, a demonstration house for green building techniques.

This program will be held at the Simsbury Public Library on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 7:00-8:30 PM. Registration is requested at 860-658-7663 or www.simsburylibrary.info. Free and open to all.