January 30, 2024
Green Infrastructure: A Sustainable Response to Stormwater Management
Have you ever paused to observe stormwater cascading down the street during a rainstorm? It’s a common sight, often overlooked as we busy ourselves with adjusting our umbrellas or our car’s windshield wipers. Yet, this seemingly innocuous stream of stormwater is a potent carrier of urban pollutants. Spilled gasoline from vehicles, excess fertilizers from gardens, rubber from tires, and metals from brake pads – all contaminants that can be whisked away by the flowing water. Disturbingly, this runoff often finds its way into our water bodies, which, in many cases, are also our sources of drinking water. This hidden journey of stormwater highlights the critical need for effective stormwater management as an integral component of our broader water infrastructure.
The concept of Low-Impact Development (LID), coupled with the use of green infrastructure, has emerged as a popular approach to tackle this issue. LID is a design strategy aimed at mimicking the natural water cycle that gets disrupted by urban development. As our cities and towns expand with new buildings, roads, and airport runways, it’s vital to mitigate their impact on the natural ecosystem. LID employs green infrastructure systems, such as green roofs, vegetated swales, and biofilters, designed to reduce runoff and improve water quality by removing target pollutants.
Oldcastle Infrastructure’s BioPod™ is a leading green infrastructure product used to satisfy urban sustainability goals and pollutant removal regulations. This biofilter is a proven LID solution, designed to remove a variety of pollutants including large solids, finer sediments, nutrients from fertilizers and metals from vehicle brake pads. What makes BioPod stand out is its ability to support different types of trees and shrubs, thereby enabling the re-establishment of natural environments within urban settings, while simultaneously filtering stormwater runoff.
The BioPod’s unique advantages include its rapid deployment and compact footprint. As a vertically integrated manufacturer, Oldcastle Infrastructure produces BioPod systems at their Pipe & Precast plants, significantly reducing lead times in comparison to other products. The core of the BioPod is the StormMix, an engineered media optimized for high flow rates, which lessens the area needed for effective stormwater management. A notable implementation of BioPod was at Medford Airport in Oregon, where its application reduced the land required for stormwater management by an impressive 70% when compared to a traditional bioswale.
For property owners, design engineers and construction contractors, adopting green LID solutions like the BioPod doesn’t mean compromising on project timelines or efficiency. Oldcastle Infrastructure is at the forefront of redefining construction norms, championing the swift and cost-effective production of stormwater management systems that not only comply with sustainable construction practices but actively protect our natural water resources.
The BioPod, with its blend of environmental sensitivity and practical utility, is indicative of the forward-thinking solutions necessary to safeguard our water resources for future generations. Its success in various projects, like at the Medford Airport, serves as a testament to its efficacy and adaptability. As we continue to explore and innovate in the realm of stormwater management, green infrastructure solutions will pave the way for a more sustainable and harmonious coexistence with our natural world.
Curious to explore how BioPod can be tailored to your needs? Our BioPod Selection Tool custom fits our advanced biofiltration systems to your specific site requirements,
