DENVER -- Heavy rains have helped Denver stay green this year, but the excessive rainfall could also be harmful by carrying more pollutants to local rivers.

"The majority of the pollution that's getting to the rivers now is from storm water that runs off of parking lots, and streets, and buildings," said Ken MacKenzie from the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District.

At the University of Colorado Denver, students have created a greener way to clean up the school's storm water.

Graduate students in the engineering program have transformed the "K" parking lot on the Auraria campus into a storm water test site. It's located at the corner of Colfax Avenue and 7th Street.

The new water-purifying project is called a rain garden. Runoff from the parking lot eventually flows into the South Platte River.

"When water gets into this detention basin, the water will have a chance to go through a settling process," said Dr. James Guo, an engineering professor at UC Denver.

During a storm, water is funneled from the parking lot into the basin. Instruments then measure the rainfall and the amount of pollutants in the water.

The main difference between a rain garden and other catch basins is the filtering process. Others use a bed of sand and peat moss. For this project, students plan to use more environmentally friendly recycled materials.

"What I'm hoping to do is replace paper and compost for the peat and then a portion of crumb rubber for the sand," said UC Denver graduate student Shauna Kocman. Crumb rubber is made from recycled tires.

"It's been used successfully in other parts of the country and we'd like to see more of them here in the Denver area," MacKenzie said.

In addition to using recycled materials at the base of the drainage basin, the students are going even greener with the project. They plan to install solar panels Friday to power all the instruments needed to study the storm runoff.

The project is expected to run for at least five years. Guo said the project will also help improve flood control strategies for the metro area.