Langley’s Second Street rain garden, a wastewater mitigation tool, received the Green Community of the Year award at Washington Main Street’s Excellence on Main Awards Ceremony April 26 in Chelan.

After a previous version failed, the rain garden was redesigned in 2015 by Langley Main Street Association intern Emily Martin, a horticulture graduate from the University of Oregon State and 2011 graduate of South Whidbey High School. A rocky channel for better water flow was created to meander through the middle of the garden to guide the water throughout the bed. New plants were also added with greater variety in size, color and fragrance.

Rain gardens work like a native forest by capturing and infiltrating polluted runoff from rooftops, driveways, and other hard surfaces. They also help reduce water pollution and prevent flooding in Puget Sound.

The Langley Main Street Association plans to make the rain garden a center piece educational tool explaining the importance of the rain garden in filtering street runoff such as heavy metals, gas and oil, before it enters the sound. It will be a pilot project to encourage and educate building owners about storm water run-off and ways to filter and clean water before it enters the storm system and sound.