Lace Elementary School Receives Grant From DuPage County 

$90,154 will go toward creation of a green roof rain project

WHEATON― The DuPage County Stormwater Division has awarded Lace Elementary School (Darien Public School District 61) with a grant that will help with the creation of a Green Roof Rain Garden Project.  The grant, totaling $90,154, is part of the County’s Water Quality Grant Program

The construction of the Green Roof will allow for various environmental educational opportunities, and will provide a visual demonstration for students that will lead to classroom discussions on water quality and its importance to maintaining life and the hydrological cycle.

“All grade levels of the science arena will become stronger due to the design and construction of the green roof and rain garden project,” Jim Zay (District 6), Chairman of the County’s Stormwater Committee.   “This project will provide Lace School’s “go-green” after school environmental club with additional opportunities for environmental learning and stewardship.”

The overall intent of this project, says Board Member Michael McMahon (District 3), is “to create a positive, visual representation of rainwater attenuation while providing students the opportunity to learn about plants, soil, and the cycle of hydrology patterns in nature”. 

The Green Roof and Rain Garden Project will provide students with a chance to see how rainwater can be treated as a resource and not a waste product.   On a rainy day, the rainwater will first land on a green roof over a portion of the school.  If  the rain is not absorbed and evaporated by the plants and soil, it will come down to the ground and  channel back into the earth within a rain garden, cooling, cleaning and evaporating the water even further. 

The Water Quality Improvement Program funds eligible large projects at 20 percent of the total construction and final design. To be considered eligible for this funding, a Conceptual Design Report is required. The Conceptual Design Report is a general overview of the project describing the existing and proposed conditions of the site in question. Using the Conceptual Design Report, each project is prioritized based on ranking criteria. Once approved by the Stormwater Management Committee, funds are encumbered for the top ranked projects for that fiscal year.

For more information, please contact Veronica Valladolid, DuPage County Stormwater Management, at 630.407.6698 or veronica.valladolid@dupageco.org.   A copy of the application manual that includes directions for completing a Design Solution Report is available on the Stormwater Management website: www.dupageco.org/dec/ .