Slowing, Spreading, Sinking Rain Water

I noticed two neat little rain gardens surrounding a newer outbuilding in a shopping center near my home.  I am impressed the building owners were so thoughtful about being good stewards of our scarcer rainwater in SoCal.

You can see the area planted with the tufts of grass plant material is sunken.  There is a drain set about 4-6 inches above the ground in the event of a downpour.  This elevated drain would carry off water before it gets too deep but allows smaller amounts of water to be captured and sink into the ground.

Awesome!

We are seeing more and more landscape features meant to slow, spread and sink rainwater rather than rushing is to the gutters and off to the ocean.