Looking for Stormwater Management Advice

[cieg22]

I need to provide stormwater management for a single house on a small lot (less than 1 acre). The site it relatively flat. The client is a landscaping enthusiast.

I have a relatively new set of stormwater guidelines to content with (The Pennsyvania Dept of Environ Protection BMP Manual) I've only used it a few times, and when I have, it has been with much larger projects.

I'm trying to come up with a cost effective way to manage and infiltrate the water from the roof drains and from a new driveway.

The architect wants to use porous asphalt for the driveway, and then tie the roof drains into the infiltration bed beneath. Personally though, I am not a fan of the porous stuff--I'm afraid it will eventually get choked, and I'm also concerned that it could present a liability issue down the road, if contaminants seep in from the driveway.

A colleague suggested that I connect the roof drains to rain barrels. Since I'm not familiar with these, I have doubts about how such a system would function--since they'd be subject to freezing and since I imagine that conducting overflow far enough away from the foundations could be complicated (although I'm sure the manufacturer's will tell me otherwise.

Can anyone provide suggestions on a good way to go with this. Should I just stick with an underground infiltration bed--perhaps with some type of garden?

By the way, this is in Philadelphia, if it makes a difference.

Thanks!

 

[blueoak]

If your client is a landscape enthusiast you may look at a grass driveway. Some municipalities will discount the area and let you run some of your roof runoff across it. Below is one option. I have also seen it done by pouring concrete from a truck into a large mold. After the mold is removed you pour in your sand mix. What I really like is if you have a two car driveway or so is you can put a tree at the entrance (deep rooting) which hides the garage on most houses.

http://www.tilecoinc.com/pages/garden_pages/G_grassblok.html

If your driveway gets choked it just runoffs to the storm drain so long as you slope it right. Or just do the old hollywood drive (2 strips of concrete).

 

[LHA]

Unless there is a local Ordinance requiring you to use the guidelines cited, you are not obligated to - at least not by PaDEP. I have attended several of the Oversight Committee and Focus Group meetings. The Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual FINAL DRAFT was released in April 2006. Until the end of the legally-required public comment period, it is just that; a draft. Public comment ended awhile ago, but, per the DRAFT MINUTES of the August 29, 2006 10:00 AM PADEP Stormwater Manual Oversight Committee, Rachel Carson Building, Room 105, "DEP will accept comments from the Committee until about the middle of September and will try to have the Manual done by the middle of October...The Manual will be finalized by the end of October. Training will kick off in November. Officially at the end of December, the manual will be complete."

Engineering is the practice of the art of science - Steve

 

[bltseattle]

You might want to check out this pub from Penn State:

Rainwater Cisterns: Design, Construction, and Water Treatment
This 15-page booklet provides plans and water treatment methods for homeowners who are planning to build a roof-catchment cistern system, or improve an existing cistern's water quality.

http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/sc277.pdf

 

[DMcGrath]

Two months of good articles in Stormwater Magazine regarding LID and the techniques used to capture runoff on-site. September's article is about a building on GA Tech campus, October article about a company HQ in northern VA. May be some ideas in there.

 

[blueoak]

I forgot, gardeners and landscape enthusiasts relly seem to enjoy Raingardens. (simple bioretention)

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/nps/rg/index.htm

 

[cieg22]

Thank you all!!! I can't believe so many of you weighed in.
I hope someday I can repay some of you for the advice.

I've given this a lot of thought since my last post and decided it's definitely best to skip the pervious driveway--access to the site is very limited. Construction traffic will only be able to get to the site by way of the proposed driveway, presenting possible compaction issues. In addition, the driveway is shaped so that most of the pavement is within 10' of the house.

I've also started moving away from any surface type management system. The top layer of soil does not seem drain well. I've started thinking more about using an infiltration bed or trench. I have MORE questions about this, for which, I'll start a new post.

Thanks again for all of your help!