Read the passage
Making room for rain
Original practice passage. The project, people and setting are fictional. Answer using only the information below.
A. After heavy rain, water repeatedly collected beside the shops on the fictional town of Calder’s Market Street. The council cleared the drains, but the problem returned. Engineers found that a wide area of paving directed water towards a narrow low point. Repairing the existing drains alone would not change that pattern. The council therefore began exploring ways to manage water before it reached the street’s lowest section.
B. One proposal was a rain garden: a planted area set slightly below the surrounding pavement. A gap in the kerb would let water enter it during a storm. Water could then collect temporarily and gradually move through the soil. An overflow would direct excess water towards the drainage system. The designers described it as extra capacity for short periods of rain, not as a permanent pond.
C. The first drawing placed the garden where delivery vans regularly stopped. Shopkeepers objected, and a resident pointed out that a narrower pavement would make access harder for wheelchair users. The revised design used two smaller areas and kept a clear route along the shopfronts. These changes reduced the planting space, but made it easier for the project to fit the different activities already taking place on the street.
D. Rather than rebuild the entire road at once, the council constructed one of the two gardens first. During the following months, staff checked how quickly water disappeared after rain and noted where litter accumulated. One inlet was widened after leaves repeatedly blocked it. The second garden was then built using the revised details, allowing the team to apply what it had learned from the first installation.
E. Planting was not the end of the work. A maintenance schedule assigned responsibility for removing rubbish, checking the inlet and replacing plants that failed to establish. Local volunteers helped with seasonal planting, while council staff remained responsible for drainage checks. Keeping these roles explicit mattered because an attractive garden could still perform poorly if the route through which water entered it became obstructed.
F. The council’s final review considered both water management and the experience of the street. Staff recorded the duration of standing water after comparable storms, while residents commented on access and appearance. The review did not assume that favourable comments proved a drainage benefit, or that a drainage benefit guaranteed public support. Each kind of evidence answered a different question about whether the scheme was working.