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Over time, people have changed the landscape of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Hard coverings such as paved roads and parking lots, roofs and other impervious surfaces have replaced what were once open fields and forests. According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, between 1990 and 2000 the population in the Chesapeake Bay watershed increased eight percent, yet the amount of impervious surface increased 41 percent.

Before extensive development, the landscape absorbed much of the rainfall. This natural process filters out pollutants, recharges groundwater, and reduces the likelihood of erosion and flooding. In urban and suburban settings, rainfall washes over impervious surfaces creating runoff. Downspouts, hard surfaces, and storm drains are used to divert and channel stormwater runoff directly into local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. Rainfall that washes over impervious surfaces picks up a wide range of pollutants including fertilizers, pesticides, oils, metals, and sediment.

Homeowners and communities throughout Anne Arundel County are taking action to reduce polluted runoff and prevent it from reaching our waterways. Ideally, rain that falls on a site should stay on that site. RainScaping practices improve water quality, restore habitat, and add beauty to the landscape. Additional significant benefits are increased property values and a reduction in a community's carbon footprint.

RainScaping techniques include a number of innovative approaches that protect our waterways. These techniques range from simple measures that include redirecting downspouts to planting beds, installing rain gardens and rain barrels, planting native trees and shrubs, and replacing hard surfaces with permeable surfaces, to more sophisticated measures such as larger bio-retention and green roofs installations. By using these techniques and planting native plants that don't require fertilizers and pesticides, we will improve water quality in our streams, creeks, rivers, and the Bay, while creating habitats full of beauty and life where local birds and butterflies will thrive!

One day we'll say in the watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, "What falls on site, stays on site."