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Multiple lines of evidence to decrease drainage to surface area ratio for effective bioinfiltration stormwater control
Citation:
OConnor, T. Multiple lines of evidence to decrease drainage to surface area ratio for effective bioinfiltration stormwater control. Water Research Webinar Series, NA, Webinar, May 18, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Bio and abstract for "Multiple lines of evidence to decrease drainage to surface area ratio for effective bioinfiltration stormwater control"
Description:
THOMAS P. O'CONNOR, P.E., BCEE Thomas has been an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development for more than 25 years. He currently works for the Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response, Water Infrastructure Division at EPA’s Edison Environmental Center in Edison, New Jersey. He has conducted research on a variety of stormwater best management practices, low impact development and green infrastructure. Presentation Summary EPA built three different sized hydraulically isolated bioinfiltration controls in 2009 and 2010. The watershed areas were nominally the same but had watershed to surface area ratios of 5.5:1 for largest units, 11:1 for the middle and 22:1 for the smallest. Controls were instrumented for continuous monitoring with water content reflectometers (WCR) and thermistors. Controls were filled with planting media comprised mostly of sand and planted with a variety of native grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees. A survey of shrubs in these bioinfiltration units was performed in 2012 with results published in 2015. The combined analyses of moisture content, rainfall and shrub size indicated the smaller controls had superior growth due to more frequent saturation of the root zone as measured by WCR.