Woman’s New Life Center
The civil engineers were tasked with managing and treating 1,000 cubic feet of stormwater runoff within a 1,200 square foot area, most of which is a parking surface.
...WHY LID / GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE (GSI)?
In 2005, while most of the development and engineering community in Houston Texas had their doubts, Construction EcoServices set out to prove that Low Impact Development could do for the community what no other stormwater management approach could; reduce flood risk, improve stormwater quality and lower overall cost of development. Since then, we have traveled the country teaching others the discoveries and lesson’s we have learned along the way, pushing forward a new style of Low Impact Development that focuses on high performing, multifunctional systems as opposed to unproven prescriptive design. We call this Multifunctional Stormwater Design.
While developing Multifunctional Stormwater Design with our partners and early adopters, we used developers and municipalities as our guiding light, or North Star, in our pursuit, knowing that in order to get their full buy-in, we would need to understand what was most important to them. So, why would a developer or municipality ever want to use Multifunctional Stormwater Design?
- Lower Upfront Construction Cost
- Increased Lot Yield
- Lower Long-Term Maintenance Costs
- No Design / Construction Delays
While the rest of the country was focused on water quality, we were focused on water management. While the rest of the country focused on treating one inch of rainfall, we were pushing the limits and learning how to manage the largest storms. We believed that if we could make Multifunctional Stormwater Design work in a place like Houston Texas, we could make it work anywhere. Why?
- Clay Soils = Very Little Infiltration
- Shallow Outfalls = Many Roadside Ditches
- Intense Rains = 2016 Tax Day Flood 16 inches in 12 Hours
- Extended Rains = 2017 Hurricane Harvey 40”+ in 60 hours
- High Annual Average Rainfall = 54” Annually
- Flat Coastal Prairie
Could there be a better place to prove LID Works?
Since 2005, the team at Construction EcoServices and it’s partners around the country have dedicated their work to both the big discoveries and the small, that have drastically improved the performance and reliability of Low Impact Development. Collectively, they have been compiled here on this site, so that you may take advantage of the knowledge that has come from our success as failures.
OUR LID CASE STUDIES
Springwoods Village
Many Low Impact Development Practices were used, including bioretention, bioswales, vegetated structural roadway shoulders, permeable pavers and rainwater harvesting and reuse.
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Queenston Manor
Working with Construction EcoServices, the engineers at EHRA, Inc. rescued this project using Low Impact Development (LID).
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NOLA Science School
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...
Merritt Road
Traditional bioretention was not feasible with the limited area for treatment and long-term maintenance, leaving the engineers with a decision to use FocalPoint High Flow Biofiltration.
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Martinez Professional Office Buildings
The engineers were able to take advantage of using Harris County’s Low Impact Development (LID) regulations by increasing the time of concentration of storm water on this site.
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Kolbe Farms
The LID solution nearly eliminated the need for a detention pond altogether and in the process gained three additional lots, or 15% more homes.
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Houston Parks Board
Within the swales are a series of forebays that pond stormwater behind earthen berms, at the bottoms of which are 10” pipes that allow low flows through and extend time of concentration for larger...
Harris County Precinct 4
Harris County Precinct 4 decided to go with developing their new service center as a Low Impact Development site to implement the allowable practices in the counties Low Impact Development Design Manual...
Gretna City Hall
Within the swales are a series of forebays that pond stormwater behind earthen berms, at the bottoms of which are 10” pipes that allow low flows through and extend time of concentration for larger...
Double Tree Ranch Park
The unpredictable and frequent storms, combined with clay soils, forced the design team to create a solution that would perform under extreme conditions while keeping the long-term maintenance costs...
Dallas Street
If the City of Ennis was going to invest heavily into a pedestrian friendly roadway, they needed to ensure the trees would survive and reach full maturity.
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Centennial Park
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...
Bullard Medical Center
How did PowerBlock serve the function of a detention pond, drainage inlet and a water quality unit on this project?
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Bryant Park in NOLA
A vacant lot next on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Calliope was going to be a challenge to develop into a new eatery and bar in the Warehouse District. The surrounding environment isn’t the most...
Birnamwood Drive – Overview
Utilizing a dry swale as the primary conveyance feature, the design team explored the various biofiltration medias available for filtering pollutants.
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Birnamwood Drive – Details
Within the swales are a series of forebays that pond stormwater behind earthen berms, at the bottoms of which are 10” pipes that allow low flows through and extend time of concentration for larger...
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
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.
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.
