A rain garden is a low area that absorbs and filters rainwater runoff that comes from roofs, sidewalks, and driveways. Rain runs off the hard surfaces, collects in the shallow depression, and slowly soaks into the soil. They are usually planted with colorful native plants and grasses.
Why Install a Rain Garden?
- Conserves Water: Rainwater helps plants grow and reduces the need for watering.
- Protects Water Quality: Plants help filter pollutants like chemicals from roofing tiles, fertilizer, and litter from sidewalks.
- Helps reduce flooding and erosion: Runoff collects in the low area and soaks into the soil instead of rapidly washing into creeks
How to Build a Rain Garden
Rain gardens come in all shapes and sizes, and every little bit of water kept on the land helps.
- Create a rain garden in six steps:
- Presentations:
- Rainscape Project Design for Homes and Schools
- Rain Garden Components and Plant Selection
- Landscape Professional Training
- 2019 Texas Parks and Wildlife - Texas Waters Webinar: The Reilly Elementary School Stormwater Retrofit: Water as a Resource and Education Tool
Additional Resources
- Rebates and Grants
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- Stormwater Management Discount
- Waterwise Rainscape Rebate
- Austin Parks Foundation
- City of Austin Neighborhood Partnering Program: Projects in the City's right of way or on City-owned property
- City of Austin Bright Green Future Grants: Competitive grant program for Austin schools
- Lesson Plans
- Austin ISD
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- Signage: WPD will provide an interpretive sign for Austin school campuses that install and register a campus rain garden. Email us to request a sign.
- Austin Rain Garden Partnership video
- Rain Catcher Pilot Program
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The Rain Catcher Pilot Program, which ran from October 2018 through January 2025, was a comprehensive initiative to increase the installation of rain gardens and cisterns at residential properties. The program leveraged and integrated the City’s existing Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) programs and resources.
This pilot brought discounts and rebates from Watershed Protection and Austin Water, offered an additional incentive of $1 per gallon of rainwater captured, and included funding from Development Services for street trees irrigated with cistern-collected rainwater.
Community education was a key focus of the pilot. Outreach efforts included educational mailers to eligible properties, custom site assessments, signage, a maintenance video, and demonstration projects.
The pilot promoted using cisterns, rain gardens, and street trees to improve stormwater management, support water conservation, and enhance Austin’s urban forest.
Urban Patchwork, our nonprofit vendor, helped community members install:
- 65 rain gardens, capturing an estimated 65,313 gallons of stormwater per 3” rain event
- 117 cisterns, with a total capacity of 120,149 gallons per 3” rain event
- 124 street trees
On average, participating properties could capture rainwater runoff from 61% of their impervious surfaces, with several capturing close to or even 100%.
These efforts improved urban hydrology by allowing more rainwater to infiltrate the soil, helping reduce nuisance flooding, erosion, and runoff pollution. In addition, the installed GSI features support water conservation, increased urban tree canopy, reduced urban heat island effects, and a more resilient and sustainable community.
Related Documents and Information
- Reports
- Phase 4 Snapshot Report
- Phase 3 Snapshot Report
- Phase 2 Snapshot Report
- Phase 1 Snapshot Report
- Phase 5 (in progress)
- Extension (In progress)
- 2020 – Scaling Green Stormwater Infrastructure Through Multiple Benefits in Austin, Texas
- 2018 City of Austin Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Initiatives, and Next Steps
- 2017 An Examination of Stormwater Quality and Quantity in Austin Area Creeks
- 2017 Survey – Diffusion of Innovations and Decentralized Green Stormwater Infrastructure: A Case Study of the Headwaters of Waller Creek Watershed, Austin, Texas
- 2017 Waller 3 Benchmarking Study. Stormwater Residential Incentive Program Lessons Learned
- 2016 North Urban Watersheds: Shoal Creek, Waller Creek, Johnson Creek, Lady Bird Lake
- 2016 Urban Hydrology Restoration: Proof of Concept Modeling
- Reilly Elementary School
- The Reilly Elementary School Stormwater Retrofit: Water as a Resource and Education Tool, 2019 Texas Parks and Wildlife - Texas Waters Webinar
- Reilly Elementary School’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure Map
View the Rain Gardens and Cisterns YouTube playlist
- Related Programs