Como Golf Course Pond

Infiltration trenches

AHUG

Como Zoo

Rain Gardens Rain gardens are planted depressions designed to allow runoff to soak into the ground. Rain garden plants provide wildlife habitat and add beauty to the neighborhood. When stormwater runoff soaks into the ground instead of flowing directly to Como Lake, pollutants are filtered out.

Eight rain gardens were constructed in the Como neighborhood in 2005: Hamline-Midway borders the west side of Como Zoo and is the largest of the eight gardens. Frankson-McKinley is another large rain garden that was installed during street reconstruction. It was designed with a small hill near the center of the basin. Other gardens are located at Frankson and Asbury Streets, Arlington and McKinley Streets, and Pascal and McKinley Streets.

Rain gardens keep about 95% of the pollution entering them from entering lakes and rivers. For more information about rain gardens, contact CRWD at 651-644-8888 or capitolregionwd.org.

Rain Garden Locations

Arlington & McKinley Streets

Asbury Street(2 rain gardens at this location)

Frankson & McKinley Streets

Hamline Avenue & Midway Parkway

Pascal Street(3 rain gardens at this location)

Look for these plants: great blue lobelia, joe-pye weed, purple coneflower, blue flag iris, black-eyed susan, golden alexander, little bluestem, fox sedge, prairie blazing star, monarda, sideoats grama, blue vervain, cardinal flower, canada anemone.

Como Neighborhood Rain Gardens

The power of plants

In the Como neighborhood, most storm drains flow directly to Como Lake without being treated. This causes algae overgrowth in the lake, especially in late summer. To help clean up Como Lake, CRWD installed features that allow water to soak into the ground before it flows through the street picking up pollution.

Neighborhood involvement

Concerned for the health of Como Lake, residents petitioned the Minnesota Legislature in 1998 to create a watershed district to oversee water quality improvements. CRWD began monitoring pollution levels in Como Lake and worked with City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County and other partners to construct stormwater controls as part of the Arlington-Pascal street reconstruction project. Como residents are still involved in neigh-borhood efforts to improve Como Lake.

Como Neighborhood Rain Gardens

About 40% of Saint Paul is made up of hard surfaces like roads, parking lots and roofs. When it rains, stormwater isn’t able to soak into the ground and runs off hard surfaces into storm drains. This runoff causes water pollution because it picks up litter, road salt, leaves and grass clippings, motor oil and anything else in its path.

Arlington-Pascal Stormwater Project

When streets in the Como neighborhood were reconstructed in 2005, CRWD worked with community partners to install a host of new clean water projects:

The Arlington-Hamline Underground Storage Facility (AHUG) is a series of perforated pipes 10 feet in diameter that receive stormwater runoff from neighborhood streets. AHUG helps reduce flooding by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground instead of flowing to Como Lake.

Infiltration trenches are a smaller version of the AHUG. The 10-inch perforated pipes are surrounded by rock and buried underneath Arlington and Nebraska Avenues. The pipes receive stormwater from a one-block area and allow it to soak into the ground.

Part of the neighborhood drains to Como Lake through the Como Golf Course Pond. Stormwater enters the pond through underground pipes, and sediment and trash are allowed to settle out of the water before it flows to Como Lake. This pond can be seen just off Chelsea Street and Chelsea Place on the western edge of Como Golf Course.

Pascal Street rain gardens Como Golf Course Pond

AHUG construction

AHUG today

Infiltration trench construction, Nebraska Ave.

Capitol Region Watershed District1410 Energy Park Drive, Ste 4, St. Paul, MN 55108651-644-8888 • fax 651-644-8894 | capitolregionwd.org