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NEWS  Release

This picture of the rain garden at the GreenForge building on Donohoe Road in Greensburg was taken after a heavy summer rain.
The water collecting in the foreground quickly sunk into the ground and the plants – including daylilies, Virginia sweetspire (foreground) and Northern bayberry – then used it to grow. 

Contacts:   Jeff Landy, Mount Pleasant borough manager, 724-547-6745

                    Greg Phillips, Westmoreland Conservation District manager/CEO,

        724-837-5271

 Mount Pleasant Residents

May Be Eligible for

Free Rain Gardens

Greensburg, PA – Mount Pleasant residents of Ramsay Terrace and nearby streets may be eligible for a free program that creates landscaped rain gardens in response to neighborhood flooding problems.

Borough officials are urging interested residents to attend a free informational meeting on Thursday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the VFW Post 3368, 416 West Main Street, Mount Pleasant, to get more information about the program.   Federal funding will be used to add a special kind of landscaping – called a “rain garden” -- in as many as 30 - 40 homeowner yards in and around Ramsay Terrace this year.  

The Westmoreland Conservation District is assisting the Borough in this endeavor by coordinating all design, installation and landscape work. Residents who have rain gardens installed will be responsible for the same kind of routine, normal maintenance – weeding, watering, and pruning – they conduct on other parts of their yard and landscape.

On the surface, the approximately 10-foot by 20-foot “rain gardens” will be attractive landscape features, with perennial flowers, shrubs, and/or small trees.   Underneath, they are actually very hard-working and effective ways to reduce flooding, a problem that has historically plagued the Ramsay Terrace neighborhood and, in particular, North and South Geary streets.

 Rain gardens reduce flooding by managing excess rainwater.  They take some of the rain that normally would flow into the sewer system or the street and collect it in a shallow, unseen trough underneath the plants.  The plants then use this water to grow, and any water left over slowly sinks into the ground.  Compared to a conventional patch of lawn, a rain garden allows 30% more water to soak into the ground.  Even though it is called a “rain garden,” water does not pond or stand on the surface of this landscape feature.

            The Westmoreland Conservation District has created rain gardens in other locations in the county.   One of the largest gardens captures rainwater from a 750-square-foot section of roof on the GreenForge office building on Donohoe Road in Greensburg. 

            Although this program targets residents of Ramsay Terrace and surrounding neighborhoods, any borough resident interested in learning more about rain gardens and other ways to reduce rainwater runoff, is invited to attend the free informational meeting on Thursday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the VFW Post 3368, 416 West Main Street, Mount Pleasant.  Borough officials and Westmoreland Conservation District staff members will be on hand to explain more about the project and identify homeowners who are interested in participating.  The Borough will also mail out more information and meeting reminders to homeowners in Ramsay Terrace and surrounding neighborhoods in the next few weeks.

Funding for the rain gardens is being provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The Richard King Mellon Foundation is providing funding for the public information meetings.

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  The Westmoreland Conservation District was established in 1949, when local farmers, seeking help to conserve their soil and water resources, approached the County Commissioners.  As the county has grown and changed in the six decades since then, the District has responded with new programs to help ensure minimal negative impact on all aspects of the county’s natural wealth – its soils, forests, streams, and open space – as well as its valuable, productive farmland.  In addition to its science-based efforts, the District serves as a clearinghouse for conservation information.  It maintains a website at www.wcdpa.com.