In the fall of 1984, Nancy Holt participated in the exhibition Preparation and Proposition at the now-closed Islip Art Museum in East Islip, New York, where she used the museum's architecture to create a weather-responsive work. She designed a system that channeled rainwater from the building's existing downspouts along a terraced wall into twin underground drains, which emptied directly into dry wells in the museum garden.

By redirecting rainwater through existing architectural infrastructure, Rain Drains made visible the movement of water through the site and drew attention to a system that ordinarily operates unnoticed. Little is known about this site-responsive sculpture, which sits within a body of sculptures, including Catch Basin (1982), Sole Source (1983), Waterwork (1983–84), and Miami Puddles (1986), through which Holt investigated the systems that carry water through the built environment.