Bioswales

[JordanL]

So about 10 years ago the Willamette river in Portland was one of the most polluted rivers in the US. A major reason was that we get a lot of rain, which led to a lot of sewage overflow events.

The city decided that in addition to updating the sewer, one of the most logical things to do would be to simply return rain water to the soil underneath the city when possible.

To this end they've been going around and paying to disconnect people's rainwater spouts from the sewage system, but have also taken to putting in bioswales absolutely any time they redevelop a street.

Below are some examples:







They've also offered credits to places that develop parking lots and include bioswales in them (like the second picture).

Before I saw them popping up around town I'd never even heard of them. It makes sense... it only takes a few blocks of Portland total over 150 million gallons of rainwater a year.

But as soon as I understood them I was fascinated, especially with the diversity in designs I'd seen just in the city.

So I was wondering if anyone else had encountered bioswales, and if so, post some pictures! They fascinate me and I'd love to see some pictures of bioswales in action.

[plinko]

They are becoming quite common in large scale developments which don't / won't drain particularly well. Cities are becoming wary of hooking too much onto their storm sewer systems and also having the additional problem of property owners not maintaining their on-site filtration systems (such as underground sand/oil interceptors).

They make sense for alot of reasons, but property owners usually don't care for them because of the amount of space they take up. That being said, I've seen alot of them used in shopping center parking lots. Certainly prettier than on-site water detention basins.

I don't have any pictures handy though...

[Anotz]

I think that I have seen these in parts of Downtown Lansing, MI, specifically on East Michigan Avenue. No pics tho.

[urbanlife]

I am a huge fan of these and it annoys me that the new office building 100 Main didnt put these in around their building. I was so hoping to see them in the sidewalks when they went in...though I could say the same thing about 12 West.

[seaskyfan]

Here's a link to some Seattle projects. The City has prioritized areas around creek watersheds.

http://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/Dr...ucture/NaturalDrainageProjects/index.htm

[village person]

Something I'd like to read up on (if anyone can direct me to info) is how safe are these, for example, a child to inadvertently play in? A creek or pond is easy to spot and tell them to avoid if it's known to be dangerous, but small unmarked plots of lands with possible high concentrations of contaminants... how can you determine, or is it not an issue? Weird thought maybe, but something I'm curious about.

[M II A II R II K]

One place that may very well need them would be on the Florida Intercoastal where the sides of the roads always have big puddles, but that's mainly due to the sea.

[M II A II R II K]

This project in San Francisco features them.

http://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/130/Armstrong%20Place.html

[hammersklavier]

That's a handsome project.

I've never seen any bioswales in Philadelphia, although that may well be in part due to the extensively built-up nature of Center City and the already-gentrified neighborhoods; the Water Department (IIRC) recently released a new water collection plan based on using these to greatly reduce storm-sewer runoff.

[M II A II R II K]

A similar concept involves Root Barriers


http://evstudio.info/2010/05/04/urban-street-trees-root-barrier/

[mersar]

The University of Calgary has been experimenting with bioswales in a few areas on campus, two of the first were done in existing parking lots by removing a couple stalls and creating them there. The largest project is one thats currently under construction, there will be a number of bioswales incorporated into the Taylor Family Quad which is a $6M redesign of the central part of the campus.