Welcome!
Thank you for visiting the West Seattle rain gardens website. We started this site when King County planned to construct "biorentention swales" in our neighborhoods. Bioswales are NOT rain gardens. We hope you’ll carefully review the content of the site to learn from our experience, especially if a similar project is proposed for your community. We support green infrastructure, but we advocate for safe options to address Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs).-
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King County Clean Water Plan
We’re hopeful this site is helpful for those seeking information about combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and bioswales. Although we are not regularly updating the site, we continue to closely follow activities with King County’s Clean Water Plan. We find it … Continue reading
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Enjoying Spring and Staying Vigilant
After one of the wettest winters we can remember, we’re relishing the scents of spring and every sun break. And as we think of all the rain that has fallen in recent months, we’re so grateful that deep wells of … Continue reading
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Tagged bioswale, bioswales, CSO, King County, stormwater, Sunrise Heights, West Seattle, Westwood
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More Rainwise, Less Forced Bioswales?
Spring has sprung, sunny, beautiful and blue one moment–gray and rainy the next. At West Seattle Raingardens, we’re enjoying the shift of the seasons. And we’re pleased to see King County’s increased promotion of the Rainwise program. We’ve also noticed the … Continue reading
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Tagged bioswale, bioswales, CSO, King County, maintenance, Rainwise, stormwater, West Seattle
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Bioswale Planting Underway
We see plantings appearing in our neighborhood bioswales and plan to take photos to track the progress. One of the primary concerns is whether the swales will be well-maintained or not. Because bioswale maintenance often starts out strong and then … Continue reading
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Tagged bioswales, High Point, maintenance, Sunrise Heights, Westwood
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Bioswale Construction Zone
We’ve been quiet, but we’re still here, in our neighborhood that now looks like a construction zone. We’re angry that King County keeps insulting our intelligence by referring to the deep ditches they’re installing as rain gardens–they are not rain … Continue reading
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Tagged Ballard, bioswales, construction, Construction Zone, High Point, King County, Westside School
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Spring Project Update & Dow Constantine
Spring is bringing beauty to Westwood and Sunrise Heights–and also a scaled back CSO project and the kickoff of King County Executive Dow Constantine’s re-election campaign. We think these two things are related. As election season begins, Constantine is unlikely … Continue reading
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Tagged bioswale, CSO, Dow Constantine, drowning hazards, King County, Sunrise Heights, tripping, Westwood
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Storm Water Funneling = Everett Neighborhood Sinking
It started with families in the Valley View neighborhood of Everett who heard creaking in the middle of the night. Four years later, one home is devastated, others are crumbling—and a lawsuit is underway. Private contractors and the homeowner whose … Continue reading
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Tagged CSO, Everett, King County, sinkholes, stormwater, West Seattle
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Be Heard This Saturday
Despite numerous safety, health and other concerns voiced by West Seattle residents, King County continues to push the Barton Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) bioswales project. What can you do? Attend an upcoming meeting and voice your concerns. King County’s “Open House” meeting is … Continue reading
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West Nile Virus
King County representatives have downplayed the possibility of standing water in bioswales, which could become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In the meantime, cases of West Nile Virus are escalating nationwide. This is not the time to install bioswales in our … Continue reading
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More Questions than Answers
After the June 23 – 24 King County Open House / block meetings in the Westwood and Sunrise Heights neighborhoods, we’re more convinced than ever that King County should resolve sewer overflows with other solutions than any type of above … Continue reading
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west seattle raingardens 