BIDDEFORD — Last year, five faculty and staff members from the University of New England got together to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency sub-grant through the Maine Campus Compact.

With the receipt of the $5,000 grant, the group planned the creation of a rain garden to help deal with storm water near Marcil Hall on the Biddeford campus.

The goal of the rain garden is to mitigate the effects of rainfall on the impervious surface of a nearby parking lot and serve as a catch basin for storm water. The hope is that the plants within the garden “suck up water,” said Jordan Tate, an environmental science major who was hired as an intern on the project. Tate is a student in the “Sustaining Water” class taught by Dr. Christine Feurt.

Because of the proximity of the Saco River to the UNE campus, said Tate, “we wanted to make sure the water was being treated” in order to “keep the Saco (River) healthy.”

Located at the source of storm water runoff, a rain garden is designed to slow the flow of water, absorb excess nutrients and filter pollutants.

In addition to Tate, other students during the spring 2014 semester were involved in creating the rain garden.

Members of Feurt’s class performed background research on rain gardens.

Students in the “Sustainability and Ecological Restoration” class of Dr. Thomas Klak grew the plants, all native to the State of Maine, from seeds in an on-campus greenhouse. They also completed the plantings of the 160 plants of 17 different varieties.

Students in Althea Cariddi’s “Sustainability Lab” course created the design and installation plan for the rain garden and prepped the location by digging out the area.

Theo Dunfey, coordinator of Citizenship and Service Learning, arranged for two students to each provide 15 hours of service in assisting with the garden, doing tasks like weeding, laying soil and adding mulch.

In addition, members of the UNE grounds staff provided several hundred hours of in-kind services.

Creating the rain garden presented a number of challenges, and the designs had to be changed to accommodate those, said Tate.

For instance, she said, because of the many storms in the spring when the garden was planted, additional stones needed to be placed along the border to prevent plants from floating away. In addition to the plants, the rain garden includes a bridge, a rain gauge and an Adirondack chair made from recycled milk jugs. The project also included production of a brochure, a website and a maintenance document.

Tate said the garden requires some care in the first year or two, but will need minimum maintenance after that.

On Tuesday, Jeanne Hay, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the rain garden.

She said the garden “represents so much of what we value at UNE.”

“We at UNE are about this Earth,” said Hay. “We understand that it’s fragile,” and that people must care for it.

“We care very much about human health,” she added. “The rain garden is important for human health as well as the environment.”

Cariddi said the university may create additional rain gardens in the future.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or [email protected].