KANSAS CITY, MO—Kansas City, MO, is the home to what has been called the “most ambitious horticultural project in the United States.” The 10,000 Rain Gardens project is designed to combat the biggest cause of pollution in rivers: non-point source pollution (i.e., fertilizer, oil, and pesticide runoff from streets and lawns which eventually end up in our streams).

The idea behind this project is that every drop of rain matters. “Every drop counts,” as their website says. And they are trying to take care of these individual drops of rain through shallow, bowl-like gardens with native plants that filter out the pesticides and fertilizers—keeping them out of our precious water system. Individuals, parks, and corporations are planting these filtration systems throughout the city. The hope is that eventually there will be 10,000 of them.

The City’s Stormwater Coordinating Committee created the initiative in 2005 in hopes of staving off the 2-3 billion (yes, billion) dollars it would cost to bring the whole municipal sewage system up to Environmental Protection Agency Code.

A recent House and Garden article is a great introduction to the 10,000 Rain Gardens project, and it points out that the Heartland is full of innovation—and has been for decades:

But this is the heartland, the region that gave birth to the Populist and Progressive parties and to the Grange movement. Kansas City isn’t looking only to government for a fix; it’s also counting on private citizens to install do-it-yourself water treatment facilities—in other words, rain gardens.

If you want to build a rain garden (even if you don’t live in Kansas City), you can get instructions here.