Abstract |
The project is oriented to create a unified design manual for stormwater filtering systems to remove pollutants from urban runoff generated at smaller sites within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The primary audience for the manual are engineers, planners and landscape architects at the local or state level that need to comply with stormwater regulations in urban or suburban areas. The manual presents detailed engineering guidance on eleven different filtering systems. The term stormwater filter refers to a diverse spectrum of stormwater treatment methods utilizing various media, such as sand, peat, grass, soil or compost to filter out pollutants entrained in urban stormwater. These filters are typically designed solely for pollutant removal, and serve small development sites. The three broad groups include: sand filters (surface, underground, perimeter, organic, and pocket designs), bioretention, and vegetated channels (grass channels, dry swales and wet swales, filter strips, and gravel wetlands). The seven chapter design manual promotes a volume-based sizing criteria for all filtering systems utilizing principles of small storm hydrology, provides detailed guidance on the selection of appropriate filter types for various applications, reviews pollutant performance data and pathways for stormwater filtering systems, and provides detailed engineering design principles and guidance. The manual provides several design examples and contains over one-hundred tables and figures. |