Carlow is now the first County in Ireland to green its concrete areas through the retrofitting of “rain gardens,” which will enhance biodiversity, lower the risk of flooding, and improve water quality.
Carlow town has completed four projects involving nature-based solutions, one of which is situated on the Old Dublin Road and has eleven rain gardens.
The amount of surface water that enters the conventional sewer system is decreased by these gardens’ collection and filtration of runoff.
“We wanted to reduce the amount of hardscape areas in Carlow town and investigate innovative measures that would both improve the aesthetics of the streetscapes and reduce the risk of surface water flooding,” said Barry Knowles, Senior Executive Engineer of Carlow Municipal District.
“We were the first local authority to implement retrofitted raingardens in an urban streetscape.
“We couldn’t increase the area size because we were working adjacent to roads, so we had to retrofit the spaces we took from the hardscape, before greening and softening them.
“The idea is greening the grey – we’re introducing a rural element into an urban environment.”
