With its focus on environmental sustainability, Victoria’s Oak and Orca Bioregional School is prime territory for a rain garden.
Rain gardens are designed around a low area that gathers stormwater and runoff, using the water rather than dumping it into the stormwater system right away, said Catherine Orr, a landscape architect and University of Victoria environmental-studies student overseeing the project.
That way, when the water does reach storm drains, there is less of it and it’s cleaner, Orr said.
“We’re trying to improve our stormwater infrastructure by adding a biological component to it.”
Orr said the project, which is largely complete, has been embraced by the school community.
The independent alternative school, near the corner of Cook Street and Hillside Avenue, has about 60 students attending multi-age classes up to Grade 12, and another 80 who are doing distance learning.
As a bioregional school, its goal is to connect students with the natural environment as much as possible, Orr said.
The main task left is to connect gutters to a 960-litre cistern, to collect water from the school roof.
Students have been enjoying the new attraction. Teva Vanderheyden, 10, said he was looking forward to learning about the rain garden, but he also has fun standing in the water as it flows through the system.
“It’s so awesome,” he said.
Oak and Orca teacher Smiler Overton said the rain garden will be a good addition to the school.
“In my experience, there’s a lot to be learned from playing. But they can go deeper into it, so we can talk about how the water’s going into the cistern and how it’s going into the rain garden and how it’s getting filtered.”
The project is supported by UVic, the City of Victoria, the Capital Regional District, the non-profit group Mitacs, the Real Estate Foundation, Murdoch de Greeff Inc. Landscape Architects, Vancity and the RBC Blue Water Project.
Other examples of rain gardens in Victoria can be seen at Victoria West Elementary School, Fisherman’s Wharf Park and on Tyee Road adjacent to Dockside Green.
