Rain gardens

Sujal Chawathe is a CA by education but a gardener at heart. Her venture Indoor Greens helps urban offices and homes, add and maintain plants

- Sujal Chawathe

Fight floods at source In urban neighbourhoods, impervious surfaces like concrete and asphalt prevent rainwater from naturally soaking into the soil. During heavy downpours, storm drains quickly overflow, leading to waterlogged streets and, in severe cases, flash floods.

Rain gardens act like sponges at the household or community level. A single well-placed garden can absorb thousands of litres of water in a storm, reducing the burden on municipal drainage systems. When multiplied across neighbourhoods, they form a decentralized network of flood defenses.

Cities such as Portland in the United States, Melbourne in Australia, and parts of Kerala in India have already begun integrating rain gardens into urban planning. Their success demonstrates that small green interventions can have big impacts.