I took the time to watch this video as well. I loved it. Our County has started to install rain gardens in some towns and add green space barriers to a large paved parking lot at our local community college. My town was one of the 1st to try the storm water gardens to reduce run off into the storm sewers. Their sewage system is very old, the town was incorporated in 1827, and much of the system was a combined storm and sanitary sewer. They installed a sewage treatment plant in 1964. Back then they only worried about the solids and the potential bacteria in the local stream that was known locally as ' The Shit Creek " . They did not know about the ammonium nitrates or the biological oxygen demand imposed on the creek waters from the plant. A few years ago they added a $4 million expansion that added two bio tanks that used bacteria to farther treat the poop waters and take out more of the bad stuff. That certainly helped and there are now little fish living in the creek. Unfortunately because of the combined storm and sanitary systems when it rains hard they have 2 over flow places that just allow the combined water to wash out directly into the creek and by pass the sewage plant. They have been permitted by the State do this since 1964. In small rains they just treat the extra volume of water which is an increased cost to the local residents. They are now in the process of separating the 2 water systems in small steps because of the huge cost. The rain garden idea was put forward to naturally reduce the amount of storm water and there fore reduce the amount of run off water that the sewage plant had to treat. The town put the gardens in several paved parking lots that they owned and paid for the gardens for residents who would allow them to be placed in their yards. The residential ones deal with roof and driveway run off. The gardens are attractive and work well. They had a few minor problems when they 1st installed some of them because they were sized wrong. But that was quickly corrected. It has been a very nice improvement and a surprisingly progressive for our little town.
Here is a link to the County Conservation Districts news letter, it is called land marks. click on the cover with the fall trees and scroll down to the article about Mt Pleasant.
http://wcdpa.com/look-at-the-new-landmarks/They do a good job here locally, but their efforts are limited by their recourses and the money allotted for conservation.
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.