Advanced LID Design: Bioretention Facilities Workshop

This course is being held in conjunction with the Grey to Green Conference taking place on April 4-5, 2019.

Date: April 5, 2019
Time: Registration 8:30am, Course 9:00am to 4:30pm
Location: TBD
Instructor: Jen Hill
See workshop agenda
Registration: greytogreenconference.org/training#LID

 

Course description

Green infrastructure, including low impact development (LID) practices, is becoming an increasingly common approach to stormwater management control. Bioretention is one type of LID measure that is designed to treat runoff from paved areas by using the natural properties of soil and vegetation to remove contaminants. Water management practitioners need to be familiar with the ‘ins and outs’ of bioretention design including sizing and siting, inlet and outlet design, material specification, construction planning, as well as the associated lifecycle inspection and maintenance requirements that should be considered during the design process.

Using an example project site, participants will be guided through a bioretention design problem including:

  • Bioretention basics and terminology
  • Review of performance studies
  • Screening design options
  • Sizing for hydrologic and water quality objectives
  • Site planning and placement of bioretention areas
  • Site grading and drainage
  • Planting design
  • Material specifications
  • Detailed design options for inlets/pretreatment
  • Detailed design options for outlets/flow control
  • Construction planning and sequencing, with erosion and sediment control
  • Maintenance planning
  • Design documentation
  • Certification/Assumption protocols

The day will be a series of short presentations interspersed with (primarily math-based) problem solving periods when the participants will work in small teams to develop their designs. Participants are requested to bring a device capable of accessing the internet and may wish to bring their own:

  • Calculator
  • 1:1000 scale

 

Learning objectives

Participants will:

  • Understand the key considerations surrounding the selection and sizing of bioretention systems
  • Develop evidence-based decision making skills for detailed design, including inlets, overflows and drains
  • Apply bioretention design principles to a case study site
  • Learn where to access freely available resources to support design adaptation