The Town of Hamden has received a federal grant to deal with one of the effects of climate change: flooding.
The city is building a 2.5-acre rain garden in Town Center Park to strengthen flood resilience and filter stormwater.
The garden will include more than 7,000 grasses, flowers and shrubs, and is expected to manage 20 million gallons of stormwater a year.
“The rain garden is absolutely beautiful but has a really important purpose,” Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett (D) said. “The rain garden helps us to slow down the water that is coming from a watershed up above here on Dixwell Avenue, slows down the water, filters the water and then also helps to make sure that the water doesn't flood our beautiful Town Center Park and, and then also beyond that, the co-ops that are in a floodplain.”
Save the Sound, an environmental advocacy group, has partnered with the town to build the garden. Construction has been going on for more than a year.
Nicole Davis manages watershed projects for the organization and said the garden will keep contaminants out of the drains, streams and the Long Island Sound.
“Our rainwater really picks up everything that is on the ground around us, dirt from your yard, pet waste, fertilizer that hasn't been absorbed into the lawn yet,” Davis said. “And then everything off the hard surfaces, the asphalt from the roofs, the roadways, any kind of tire particles, brake dust, even just fluids leaking from cars, all make their way untreated into the waterways.”
The garden is located steps from the town’s middle school.
And according to State Senator Jorge Cabrera, it will include an outdoor classroom for the students.
“Our children will be able to come here and learn what they can do you, learn how important it is to be an advocate to speak up about climate change, and make sure that we have leaders of the future to fight for this kind of investment,” Cabrera said.
Officials said the project will cost around $700,000. The federal grant covers $80,000, and the state and town of Hamden will cover the rest.
