Research Projects

The rain garden is an easily accessible research site for Marymount students, as well as local high school students.

• Research projects in the garden are assessing the interception, infiltration and bioremediation on soil water factors such as fertilizer phosphate and nitrate run-off, petroleum product and coliform bacteria contamination, and sediment load from erosion.
• Marymount’s Biology and Mathematics departments are doing an interdisciplinary research project to develop a predictive model for evaluating storm water management effectiveness as seasonal parameters change.
• The rain garden research is generating data to support ongoing research that evaluates the storm water management ability of specific rain garden plants. Results will be used to gauge the cost-effectiveness of the project and document rain garden effectiveness to address quality assurance and quality control issues.
• Art, Graphic Design, and Video Production classes are also making use of the rain garden for various projects.