Rain Garden

In 2015-2016, through a project done in Dr. Tustin’s 7th grade science class, students identified runoff generated by Dent as a significant concern to the Gills Creek Watershed and Carys Lake ecosystem. That year students helped write grants to build a rain garden on campus to help mitigate the water generated by impervious surfaces at Dent Middle School. In 2016-2017 students raised over $3,000 grants, including grants from Project Learning Tree and DHEC’s Champions of the Environment, to build approximately 700 square feet of rain garden. In the fall of 2018, through a grant from The Nature Conservancy and Clemson Extension, students in Dr. Tustin’s class expanded the rain garden to cover approximately 1,000 square feet of campus. That means for every inch of rain in the Decker Blvd corridor, the garden is reclaiming about 600 gallons of water that would otherwise be runoff.