Rain garden community grants on offer for Adelaide stormwater capture

Those eligible to seek the grants include local government, community organisations, schools and sporting and church groups.

Rain gardens are purpose-built to capture and filter stormwater from hard surfaces such as driveways, roads or car parks to water plants.

South Australian Environment Minister Ian Hunter said a long-term aim was to achieve infrastructure cost savings.

"Introducing rain gardens and other forms of water-sensitive design in our buildings and streetscapes will improve the liveability of our city and towns, save on infrastructure costs and have a huge benefit for the environment," he said.

"We're increasingly aware that traditional methods of dealing with stormwater are expensive and have a harmful effect on our waterways and oceans."

Grants of between $3,000 and $50,000 are available under a three-year program as a part of Landcare, and applications are open until the end of July.

Mr Hunter said rain gardens filtered pollutants from stormwater as part of the process.

"Rain gardens have a special porous soil layer under the surface, on top of a drainage layer, where the stormwater is held and slowly filters any pollutants before it is used to irrigate specially-selected plants," he said.

The Environment Protection Authority said the rain gardens were a way local communities could help improve the quality of Adelaide stormwater.

It said ultimately there could be improvements in the health of seagrasses offshore, where much of Adelaide's stormwater flows at present.

Original article can be found on ABC News Online.