A main outcome of the 2020 East Palo Alto Community Vulnerability Assessment was an emphasis on nature-based solutions to climate change, especially pertaining to flooding. Despite this widespread community interest, most EPA residents lack the training, information, and capital needed to install and maintain natural infrastructure in their own homes and neighborhoods.

The purpose of this project is to bring together, educate, and train East Palo Alto (EPA) residents to install rain gardens and cisterns in local homes that mitigate flooding, drought, extreme heat, and other climate change impacts. Our goal is to create a community- and science-based strategy for city-wide scaling of rainwater harvesting systems, as well as garden/cistern installation and maintenance at a subset of EPA residences.

We are currently working to build 25 rain gardens and cisterns in East Palo Alto. The first phase of the project involves feasibility mapping, followed by workshops and informational sessions on natural infrastructure by CRC and project partners to share types, benefits, and resources for installation.

Project Partners