A few weeks ago, I searched the term “stormwater” on Google News, and what did I see? Nearly a third of the results were articles about stormwater utilities. The focus of the articles varied from municipalities creating new stormwater utilities to rising stormwater utility rates.The concept of the stormwater utility has existed in the U.S. since

Engineers widely use plastic chambers for retention and/or infiltration of stormwater.  These systems are comprised of rows of open bottom arch-shaped chambers in a stone backfill.  Stormwater is stored in the chamber volume as well as the void space in the surrounding stone.  Manifolds for chamber systems typically consist of 12" to 24" HDPE

Bioretention has been the principal form of Low-Impact Development (LID) used to slow, treat, retain and infiltrate stormwater runoff, mimicking a site's natural, pre-development hydrology. One aspect of bioretention that has some scientists and regulators concerned is the phenomenon known as nutrient leaching. Nutrient leaching occurs when the bioretention media, which often contains compost, breaks down and releases phosphorus to downstream receiving waters.

It's hard to believe, but it has been almost twenty years since Filterra bioretention was introduced as a high-flow stormwater treatment system. For those that don't know, Filterra is an engineered high-flow biofiltration/bioretention system that operates similar to traditional bioretention but with high flow rates in a much smaller

If you are involved in any aspect of stormwater management, no doubt you have heard the phrase "impaired waters."  The determination and subsequent listing of a water body as impaired sets off a chain reaction of events affecting everyone who lives, works or recreates near the water body. But what is an impaired water body, and how does a water

Stormwater regulations are calling for an increased level of treatment. This often takes the form of filtration systems. Two types of filtration systems used in stormwater are media filtration and membrane filtration.Media Filtration systems function through physical capture of pollutants, as well as adsorption of pollutants through chemical

When I think about field monitoring, I often think about baseball. More specifically, I think about the knuckleball pitch. Since the knuckleball pitch has little to no spin, the ball moves in a completely unpredictable fashion. Unlike a fastball or a curveball, there are no pitching mechanics to indicate where the ball will likely wind up after

Corrugated metal pipe (CMP) is the “go-to” material for most stormwater detention and infiltration projects. A wide range of gages, corrugations, and diameters provides engineers flexibility in design not available with other materials. In addition, the industry has developed several pipe coatings and materials to accommodate site-specific

Early in my stormwater monitoring days, even though I had access to high-end automated samplers, flow meters, and data loggers, transferring said data required a manual download to a laptop with a serial cable port. Also, my colleague John and I had to print out actual maps to find the monitoring sites. Naturally, this is unthinkable today, thanks

To understand the physical and biological processes in a high-rate biofiltration system, it’s necessary to look at how each system component contributes to pollutant removal and flow management. If you are not familiar with high-rate biofiltration – check out this blog post for an in-depth explanation.MulchOften seen as just an aesthetic feature,