Effects of Rainfall Characteristics and Soil Moisture on Catchment-Scale Rain Garden Performance

Watershed managers are increasingly promoting green infrastructure practices such as rain gardens (RGs) to mitigate the adverse impacts of urban development on streams. RGs—vegetated depressional areas that collect and infiltrate runoff—have proven effective for mitigating stormwater runoff at the site scale, but their catchment-scale performance can vary widely in response to various spatial and temporal factors. In particular, the impacts of rainfall characteristics and antecedent moisture condition (AMC) on the catchment-scale effectiveness of RGs in suburban areas are not fully understood.