Row House or Other Small Building
Plant a small rain garden, hook up a rain barrel, or start a container garden.
Featured Garden: A Charming Williamsburg Rain Garden and Green Roof
If your building has an external downspout, consider installing a rain barrel to collect runoff from the roof. The Department of Environmental Protection provides free 60-gallon rain barrels for New York City residents.
If your home includes a garden or yard, you can also create a rain garden to soak up some excess storm water. These can be small, simple depressions filled with a few well-chosen plants or a more complex design that incorporates gravel and drains beneath the soil surface to funnel away water.
There are also a few simple accommodations you can make to reduce runoff.
- Omit curbs that enclose your street-side garden strips and tree beds so that rainwater can run into them instead of out to the street and down the storm sewer.
- Set an empty ceramic or plastic pot out on your patio, roof, or terrace to catch rain. Cover it with screen to keep mosquitoes out, and use it to fill your watering can when you need to water your garden. This works particularly well as part of a container garden.
- Another nice option: a downspout planter—a container filled with water-loving plants placed beneath your downspout to slow rainwater runoff.