Articles Tagged: Stormwater Control Measures

For much of the last century, stormwater management followed a simple philosophy: collect runoff as quickly as possible and move it downstream through pipes, ditches, culverts, and channels. Success was often measured by how rapidly water could be removed from streets and developed areas. That appro…

Rain gardens are among the most recognizable and effective forms of green infrastructure. Although they often resemble attractive landscaped planting beds, a properly designed rain garden is a carefully engineered stormwater management system. Every component, from the shape of the basin to the soil…

*Author's note: The primary image paired with this article depicts a road with a paved wing - Richmond Hill Drive in Queensbury, NY, to be precise - while flooded during a pre-thaw heavy rain event. A winged road with adequate drainage would not normally retain that amount of stormwater. If you …

As communities look for sustainable ways to manage stormwater, bioswales have become one of the most effective and visually appealing tools in the green infrastructure toolbox. They blend natural processes with engineered design to slow, filter, and infiltrate stormwater before it reaches local wate…

Infiltration-based best management practices, or BMPs, are designed to capture, store, and gradually infiltrate stormwater into the ground. These systems, which include bioretention basins, infiltration trenches, dry wells, and porous pavement systems, are particularly vulnerable during and immediat…

When addressing a drainage problem, one of the most important decisions is whether to move water away through a traditional catch basin and pipe system or to manage it on-site using a dry well. Both approaches are widely used and effective when applied in the right context, but selecting the wrong s…

A Look at the English Brook Delta in Lake George, New York Sediment is a natural part of any water system, but when it accumulates faster than a system can handle, it begins to change the waterbody in ways that are both visible and subtle. Excess sediment alters water clarity, transports nutrients, …

Retention and detention ponds are among the most recognizable features of modern stormwater management systems, yet they are often misunderstood or used interchangeably. While both are designed to manage runoff and protect downstream infrastructure, they serve distinct purposes and function in very …

Housing density is often discussed in terms of zoning, neighborhood character, or affordability, but it has a direct and measurable impact on stormwater runoff. In Using Smart Growth Techniques as Stormwater Best Management Practices, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes a compelling case …

Municipal leaders and highway departments are under constant pressure to maintain aging infrastructure with limited local budgets. Culverts fail, roads deteriorate, and drainage systems quietly reach the end of their useful life, often without the funding needed to address them. Yet, while many muni…

Stormwater outfalls are the final point where a drainage system releases water into a receiving body such as a stream, river, wetland, or lake. Because they sit at the end of the system, they are often overlooked until a visible failure occurs. When an outfall collapses or erodes, the consequences c…

Open channel outfalls occupy a unique space in stormwater infrastructure. They are simple in appearance, often nothing more than a vegetated swale or gently graded channel, yet when properly designed they function as treatment systems, flow control measures, and in northern climates even snow manage…