SS Credit 6.2: Stormwater Design: Quality Control

Good Afternoon,

Today's Leed topic is Stormwater Design: Quality Control
Limit disruption and pollution of natural water flows by managing stormwater runoff.

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http://www.usgbc.org/
Leed for New Construction version 2.2

This topic is very apropo here given the weather forecast for the weekend in New England.

We are expecting 2" to 4" of rainfall this weekend on land that is already saturated and that has a substantial snow base. When it rains this much rivers and streams tend to over flow their banks and the local storm water drainage systems become overwhelmed and that creates contamination to our lakes and streams as well as low lying wetland areas.

Communities can be design to limit the rain water that is allowed to leave its property by means of recharger pits, rip rap slopes and collection areas with natural vegetation with permeable landscape that can help with these events.

Home and business property owners can limit the amount of black top (bituminous paving) and try to incorporate more natural permeable garden areas to help with the rainfall.

Another great idea is a rain water collection tank that can be filtered and used to water the surrounding landscape. These rain water collection systems if used by many people would substantially reduce the amount of water heading to public treatment centers.

A good question to asked your Civil Engineer and Landscape Architect is what vegetative landscape features can be incorporated to allow for filtering of contaminated rainwater or total suspended solids (TSS).

Achieve Zero Run-off for your property to prevent contamination of local streams and rivers.

Remember to Tread Lightly or Less

Be Green

Be Happy

Eric H. Gjerde AIA
Architect