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STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDE VOLUME 2 - VEGETATIVE BIOFILTERS
Citation:
Clar, M., B. J. BARFIELD, AND T. O'CONNOR. STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDE VOLUME 2 - VEGETATIVE BIOFILTERS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-04/121a, 2004.
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Description:
This document is Volume 2 of a three volume document that provides guidance on the selection and design of stormwater management Best Management Practices (BMPs). This second volume provides specific design guidance for a group of onsite BMP control practices that are referred to as vegetative biofilters and includes the following BMP control practices: grass swales, filter and buffer strips, bioretention cells. Historically vegetative biofilters, such as grass swales, were used primarily for stormwater conveyance (Ree, 1949, Chow, 1959 and Temple, 1987). However with the passage of the Clean Water Act, and the focus on water quality management of urban runoff, the potential for the application of these techniques has begun to be reconsidered and many additional benefits have been identified. Today biofilters are being applied to address all of the design objectives of urban stormwater management. These include: reduction of urban runoff impacts, groundwater recharge, water quality control, stream channel protection and peak discharge control (for both small storms e.g., 6-month and 1-yr frequency storms, and large storms e.g., 2, 10 and 100-yr storms). The most common application of the biofilters, however, is typically their use as the first stage of the treatment train approach described in Volume 1, and their purpose is to address groundwater recharge and water quality control for small headwater areas. Three different types of vegetated biofilter BMP types have been identified and are described in this manual. These include: 1) grass swales, 2) vegetated filter strips and 3) bioretention cells. In addition grass swales contain three variations that include: 1) traditional grass swales, 2) grass swale with a media filter and 3) wet swales. Thus a total of five BMP types are available for use and are described in this manual.
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STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDE VOLUME 2 - VEGETATIVE BIOFILTERS