A study recently published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening presents data showing that trees planted in paving can significantly reduce stormwater runoff. The results, published by D. Armson, P. Stringer, and A.R. Ennos, are taken from data collected in Manchester, UK from January 2011 to September 2011. The study created 5 test sites, each containing three 9… More
Last month, I read an article about the merits of starting small when it comes to stormwater harvesting projects. The article started with the statement that some cities that have evaluated stormwater harvesting have concluded that the investment is too large relative to the benefits. It then goes on to examine the town of Wrightsville… More
I spent a good part of last winter completing a literature review on bioretention media for a revision to the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. So when I attended the Low Impact Development (LID) conference in St. Paul, MN earlier this month, I was very interested to learn of a recent specification coming out of New Zealand:… More
Randy Neprash has been a champion of using trees for urban stormwater management for longer than almost anyone else we know. A water resources engineer and stormwater regulatory specialist for Bonestroo, now Stantec, Randy is also the technical consultant for the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition, an organization of about 120 Minnesota cities that are regulated… More
Back in December 2012, we reported the first preliminary results of Stormwater Treatment Performance Monitoring by Dr. William Hunt, Jonathan Page, and Ryan Winston, of two Silva Cell Systems in Wilmington, North Carolina. Final results and statistics are expected later this summer. In the meantime, preliminary results are so promising that we want to share… More
There are some individuals drawn to the comfort of indoors, fed by books and stories of adventures from arm’s length in their armchairs. I am not among them. Having been given a diagnosis of “terminal wanderlust,” I have always felt more comfortable under the open sky rather than under a roof. The sizable amount of… More
In the world of Low Impact Design (LID), the terms raingarden and bioretention are often used interchangeably. However, there are some inferred differences between these two LID practices. These differences were highlighted during recent work with the Washington Department of Ecology, which designated Silva Cell as functionally equivalent to a bioretention facility.
(Read “Rise of the Curb Cut: Part 1 here). The fundamental behavior of stormwater in curbs and street design is simple. Each creature, each inanimate object, each molecule of everything functions and abides by its simple and powerful law every day: gravity. From this basic concept, direct parallels can be drawn between the design elements… More
Before anyone is lost to their thoughts or misgivings about the title of this post, this is not a piece on Germany in World War II or military strategies. Rather, this is about how odd parallels can be drawn between streets and nature, the built environment and natural one, and how an understanding of history… More
Need a lively discussion topic for the dinner table, a road trip, or a hot date? How about stormwater credits for trees?! A group of us started discussing the intricacies of how to set up a stormwater credit system for trees two summers ago, only to discover that the subject was even more “interesting” (both… More
Silva Cells were originally developed to provide adequate tree rooting volumes even in areas dominated by pavement. They do this by extending rootable soil volume under HS20 load bearing surfaces. These rootable tree volumes and the large trees that root in them are also an efficient sustainable stormwater management system. Sometimes people ask us if… More
Today’s blog entry is reprinted testimony from Dr. Franco Montalto, PE, given to the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation at a public hearing on the environmental causes and effects of extreme weather events. The testimony was given on January 13th, 2013 and originally appeared on SwimmableNYC’s blog. Dr. Montalto is an… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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