LESSONS IN LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT

Congratulations. You are far ahead of others who have yet to accept and adapt LID techniques. So for you, we offer our advanced insights on how to vastly improve your use and execution of stormwater LID approaches. Below, we will be regularly posting new ways in which you can improve your LID strategies – so please bookmark this page and check back each month. We hope you find these techniques insightful and helpful.

3 Tips to Building Resilient Bioretention Planters

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“During Memorial Day, Tax Day and Hurricane Harvey Floods, Bagby Street Out Performed Every Street in the Midtown District” : Marlon Marshal: Director, Engineering & Construction Midtown Redevelopment Authority
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HURRICANE HARVEY: 24-Hour Peak Rainfall Total = 16.28 inches
The History of Bagby Street
The History of Bagby Street
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2019 (Post Harvey) Hydraulic Conductivity Test Results. Testing after FIVE YEARS of NO MAINTENANCE.
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3 Keys to Building Resilient Bioretention Planters......1) Use Sediment Forebays for Pretreatment Prior to Discharge into Biofiltration Area.
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2) Regulate Flow Coming into the Biofiltration Area with Gabions, Weirs, or Check Dams
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3. Use FocalPoint High Performance Modular Bioretention System for Filtering

No Space Above Ground For Water Storage? Go Below Ground.

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Bioretention can provide multiple benefits in stormwater management. The ecosystem services include improved water & air quality, flood mitigation and aesthetic appeal.
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One of the most valuable benefits of bioretention is volume storage, which helps attenuate stormwater flows and prevent localized or downstream flooding.
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Bioretention in roadways or in highly urbanized areas are limited in space, making surface storage difficult to achieve. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a solution to increase the storage capacity.
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Bioretention cells combined with R-Tank can vastly expand the storage capacity, even if tight spaces like a parking lot or in the right-of-way in a street.
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R-Tank has the strength to handle most traffic loads.
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The backfill selection around the R-Tank can range from limestone or bioretention media, depending on the storage volume and traffic loading requirements.
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The additional volume can also be used for infiltration or harvesting. Pictured above is an R-Tank system (left and middle) used for harvesting water through a biofiltration system (far right).
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Learn more on how to make bioretention design multi-functional in the LID section of this website.

Don’t Forget About The Trees.

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Are your street trees not surviving? The average life span of a tree in the urban environment is less than 8 years.
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Tree roots can damage infrastructure and cause pavement heaving, making budgeting for infrastructure repairs unpredictable for municipalities.<
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Inadequate soil volume prevents trees from reaching full maturity, which reduces canopy cover and contributes to the urban heat island effect.
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Structural Soil Cells can provide adequate, healthy and uncompacted soil for trees in the urban environment.
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Soil Cells provide structural support for almost any pavement type, while creating a nurturing environment for tree roots.
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Not only do Structural Soil Cells help create a better built environment, they can be integrated with Green Infrastructure, such as permeable pavers or bioswales.
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Learn more about how to integrate trees into your stormwater management system in the LID section of this website.

Are Your Curb Cuts Accumulating Sediment and/or Causing Flooding?

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Often times, sod or mulch placement during construction...
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...prevents flow into bioretention systems.
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Construction EcoServices recommends providing details that show a minimum 1” drop from top of pavement to top of bank.
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This also prevents sediment accumulation in the parking lot...
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...and pushes sediment into the swale.

Keeping Biofiltration Feature Clean During Construction

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Do your bioretention systems resemble duck ponds?<br>80% of bioretention failure occurs due to inundation of sediment during construction.
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Enter Construction EcoService's “Cap & Seal” Technique developed for biofiltration systems.
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Construction EcoService's “Cap & Seal” Technique for protecting Bioretention Systems prevents them from becoming clogged during construction phase activities.
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Sediment accumulates over the protective barrier.
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Perfectly clean and ready for action, the system is activated and planted once 95% of development is stabilized.

Seal and Protect Permeable Pavers During Construction

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Are your permeable pavers clogging immediately after construction?
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Most poor permeable pavement performance within the first year of construction is caused by lack of protection during construction phase because the contractor has failed to realize that the pavers are actually an inlet.
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Although it’s always preferred to install permeable paver systems last, that’s rarely an option.
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However, using our “Cap & Seal” Techniques, once the pavers are installed they are wrapped in a non-woven geotextile for protection during construction phase.
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During construction, sediment accumulates over the protective barrier and prevents the pavers below from becoming clogged.
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After construction, and once the site is swept and stabilized, the protective barrier is removed leaving pavers that are ready to perform to specification.

FEATURED LID PRODUCT

The modular Stratavault system employs advanced design geometry and reinforced copolymers to produce an incredibly robust, skeletal matrix. This matrix has been tested by Finite Element Analysis, as well as physical Ultimate Load tests at university. These test results have been verified by consulting engineers to provide adequate support for pavement loads

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OUR LID CASE STUDIES

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Centennial Park

LID, Urban Tree Management

Structural soil cells from Citygreen, called Stratavault, were chosen to provide 50,000 CF of soil for all the trees in the park. Stratavault is a modular design that provides structural support for...

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THE WHY!

Why Choose Us?

Established in 2002, we provide our clients a proven, systematic approach and a reliable experienced team that can take all compliance logistical burdens off your shoulders. What could make your life simpler? One call. One point of contact. New project launches simplified. Compliance simplified. Compliance assured.

Other key reasons to choose us:

  • We provide the most appropriate, cost-effective, and innovative solutions
  • Our experience and expertise is the fundamental “product” our clients buy
  • We focus on our customer’s success
  • Our high degree of integrity
  • Our ability to customize and problem solve
  • All our field crew are OSHA 30
  • We are agents of stormwater change

If achieving the highest level of compliance while reducing risk and lowering costs is important to you, then let’s work together. We provide full turnkey stormwater management consulting and solutions. All field crew are OSHA 30 certified.

Tell us about your project and get a quick quote.

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Stormwater: Why Care?

Stormwater management may seem like a relatively new industry, but it has actually been around since the Roman times. They knew, even back then, that managing stormwater runoff was a key issue to urban living. With poor stormwater management, both flooding and disease constantly wreaked havoc in ancient cities.

Not much has changed since then, except now, with more and more of the earth being covered over with cement and other impervious surfaces, the negative effects of poor stormwater management have increased exponentially. Our natural water supplies are at risk due to pollution and their lack of ability to recharge. The flowing of our waterways are at risk from erosion, sediment build up, and trash. And, our marine life is at risk, from all the chemicals finding their way into bodies of water.

Some may see stormwater management as just another unnecessary and unwanted cost to construction projects or property ownership and management. But, understanding the negative effects that poor or no stormwater management is causing should be a concern to us all. It affects where we live and play. It affects our marine-based food supply. It affects our dwindling water supply.

We care. It is why we do what we do.