Ribbon Cutting Planned for Tuesday, July 12, at 1 p.m.

SANTA FE, July 6 – The City of Santa Fe’s Public Works Department and the Santa Fe Watershed Association are excited to announce the completion of the Brother’s Lane Rain Garden and Camino Escondido Stilling Basins. The community is invited to attend a ribbon cutting at the rain garden, which is located next to El Castillo Retirement Community (250 East Alameda), on Tuesday, July 12, at 1 p.m.

The Brother’s Lane Rain Garden collects stormwater from East Alameda and forces the polluted runoff through a series of infiltration basins, allowing the water to slow and settle before reaching the Santa Fe River. Conveying water through these bio-engineered basins significantly improves water quality and helps to recharge low-lying aquifers. The stilling basins upstream at Camino Escondido work to dissipate energy as storm flows enter the Santa Fe River, thereby reducing erosion and decreasing sediment loads entering the river.

“I am so happy the City of Santa Fe has been able to support this amazing project—it’s truly inspiring seeing what can be accomplished when public and private partnerships are formed to achieve a common goal,” said Melissa McDonald, Parks and Open Space Division Director. “We are excited to see these rain gardens in action providing numerous benefits to our river, our wildlife, and our community.”

To help support the City’s Bees, Trees, & Water initiative, the rain garden includes pollinator-friendly plants to provide habitat for native bees and offer shade for other helpful insects. In addition, volunteers will now have an easily accessible site to test water quality and assist with data collection.

This project was a collaboration of the City of Santa Fe’s Public Works Department, the Santa Fe Watershed Association, Watershed West, and The Raincatcher Inc. It was funded by a River Steward Grant from the New Mexico Environment Department and received the support of the Mayor and Governing Body.

To learn more about stormwater issues and City projects addressing runoff, check out this interactive stormwater storymap developed by the Public Works Department and the Santa Fe River Commission.