1. Stormwater Practices
for Challenging Sites
Sustainability for all the places between the buildings
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2. What I’m About to Tell You
How Residents Can Safely Manage Stormwater
•Housekeeping
•What’s a “Challenging Site”?
•Why do our properties impact water quality?
•Why is reducing runoff important?
•What practices can we implement on our own
properties?
5. Challenging Sites are…
… any area not suitable for infiltration of runoff.
This includes:
• Steep slopes/landslides
• Clay soils
• High seasonal groundwater
• Inadequate setbacks
(ex. Buildings too close together)
6. The Water Balance Model
Water Quantity Before
25% baseflow
(infiltration)
50%
evaporation
0.5% runoff
100%average
Annualrainfall
25%groundwater
(infiltration)
8. The Water Balance Model
Water Quantity After
0” baseflow
(infiltration)
reducedevapo-
transpiration
100%rainfall
yearlyavg
98% runoff
2%evapo-
transpiration
Reduced
infiltration
13. The Water Balance Model
Water Quality After
Sediment (air particulates)
Nutrients
Feces
Other debris
Sediment/turbidity
Hydrocarbons
Heavy metals (particles & soluble)
Other chemicals
Runoff volume
Sediment/turbidity
fertilizers
pesticides
herbicides
Runoff volume
13
17. Compost Amended Slopes
Washington DOT
• Great for keeping soil in place on steep slopes, too!
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Design/Roadside/SoilBioengineering.htm
33. Historic Landslide Areas
One way to identify them
• Erosion: Landslides
Bent trunks sometimes indicate areas
where landslides occurred a long time
ago = likely to happen again
36. What I Just Told You
How Residents Can Safely Manage Stormwater
•Housekeeping
•What’s a “Challenging Site”?
•Why do our properties impact water quality?
•Why is reducing runoff important?
•What practices can we implement on our own
properties?