In the January 2009 issue of Stormwater magazine, writer Christopher Estes presents monitoring data for three sites in the North Carolina Piedmont that demonstrate the success of rainwater/stormwater infiltation in clay soils.
Cold climates are typically very hard on constructed systems; however, according to Dr. Robert Roseen, director of the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, rainwater/stormwater management systems using infiltration and filtration mechanisms, if properly designed, can work well in cold-weather environments.
King County in Washington State became one of the first jurisdictions in the United States to adopt and implement a post-construction soil standard. Its regulation went into effect January 1, 2005. King County’s post-construction soil standard has changed the way developers plan and develop a site in unincorporated parts of the county.
The September 2008 issue of Stormwater magazine includes an article about a new approach developed at the University of Minnesota that includes controlled testing as a key component in a four-level assessment program for determing if rain gardens are functioning properly.
“Rather than think of rain gardens primarily as wet environments, we should design them as dry environments that experience only brief wet periods. This shift in thinking increases opportunities for ornamental planting without sacrificing environmental performance,” writes Kevin Burrell in the October 2008 issue of Stormwater Magazine.
Properly designed “rain gardens” can effectively trap and retain up to 99 percent of common pollutants in urban storm runoff, potentially improving water quality and promoting the conversion of some pollutants into less harmful compounds. This is according to new research scheduled for publication in the February 15, 2006 issue of the American Chemical Society journal, “Environmental Science and Technology”. The affordable, easy-to-design gardens could help solve one of the nation’s most pressing pollution problems.
