RAINGARDENS AND BIORETENTION AREAS
Bioretention areas, also known as Raingardens, are shallow stormwater basins or landscaped areas that utilize engineered soils and vegetation to capture and treat stormwater runoff. The fundamental purpose of raingardens is to route stormwater through functional landscapes that store, infiltrate, evaporate, filter, and slow the velocity of stormwater runoff, reducing peak flows, volumes, and pollutants.
Raingardens are attractive as stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP's) because they improve environmental quality while continuing to meet landscape requirements. Functional soil and landscape systems are critical to the overall performance of raingardens. Engineered soils in these projects play an important role in addition to providing the media for the plant palette. One significant function of the soil is water storage, storage of water in the soil retains water on-site for infiltration and use by soil microorganisms and plant life, which also reduces surface runoff and erosion. Other important functions of the soil are the cleansing of water and the binding of chemicals that on many occasions become water pollutants. Finally, successful plantings increase the urban forest, reduce the urban heat island effect, improve air quality, and provide a more aesthetically pleasing and sustainable environment.
Raingardens can have many different designs and be installed in many different locations, for example; the edge of roads, adjacent to gutters and downspouts, in a corner of a lawn, or in the medians of parking lots.
Use for: an engineered soil used in cells / ponds to route stormwater through functional landscapes that store, infiltrate, evaporate, filter, and slow the velocity of stormwater runoff, reducing peak flows, volumes, and pollutants.
Specification Code: 9.0
Green Benefits
Retains water on site, Reduces Urban Heat Island , Helps breakdown contaminants that would otherwise wash down gutters, provides an aesthetically pleasing alternative to traditional retention ponds.
Lets go Green!