School Smart
Parking and access were issues for Mission Park Elementary, located south of San Jose in Salinas, Calif., and the ensuing site improvement project required storm water management. The city needed a low impact development (LID) solution—and since it had to be installed prior to the beginning of the school year, a worry-free, quick installation was necessary.
Unlike conventional storm water management practices that collect, convey, treat and then discharge urban runoff from the site, LID takes a more natural approach. Rainfall is managed close to the source with integrated management practices that are uniformly dispersed throughout the site. LID site design emphasizes conserving natural areas to minimize negative impact to the natural environment.
The project engineer, EDA Design Professionals of San Luis Obispo, Calif., was faced with a limited time frame and small available footprint, so the company turned to Contech Engineered Solutions to propose a solution.
Two UrbanGreen BioFilter systems were chosen for the project, as they combine the benefits of natural biofiltration with an engineered system to effectively remove pollutants from storm water runoff. A key benefit to the system is its internal bypass—the design engineer’s basis for specification and installation of this solution. The internal bypass enables placement of the system anywhere on the site, while eliminating the need for and cost of an external bypass structure.
“In a city that requires LID, the Contech UrbanGreen BioFilter made a project that would have otherwise been impossible, achievable in a cost-effective manner,” said EDA Associate Robert Winslow.
With a focus on environmental stewardship, the UrbanGreen BioFilter was developed to better meet today’s critical LID site challenges for rooftop drainage, gutter flow, curb flow and parking area drainage.
Isham Khan is UrbanGreen BioFilter product manager for Contech Engineered Solutions. Khan can be reached at 513.645.7000.
