CWEA Stormwater Webinar
January 23, 2020
Noon – 1pm
1.0 PDH available
Registration is free to CWEA Members • Non-members: $10
Register here: www.memberleap.com/members/evr/reg_event.php?orgcode=CWEA&evid=19324387
BIOFORENSICS: FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS OF FAILED BIORETENTION BMPS
Presented by: Theodore Scott, PE, Stormwater Maintenance, LLC
Bioretention is a best management practice that has been steadily growing in popularity in the Chesapeake Bay watershed since the 1990s. As it functions by filtering stormwater runoff through a man-made bioretention soil media (BSM), the media and other component layers have proven to be problematic in some cases. The sensitive of fines in the BSM has been the reason for numerous failures, defined as slow or non-existent dewatering, in the past. These issues have been the topic of numerous academic studies in an effort to better understand the function and to determine the impact of various activities, such as roadway de-icing, snow removal and maintenance activities.
This presentation will highlight techniques and processes used to investigate and determine the reasons why bioretention facilities have failed. A bioretention facility constructed by the author’s firm in downtown Baltimore will be used as a case study. This particular project is complex in several ways and will illustrate the complexities of determining the cause of failures, while offering means and methods of forensic BMP investigations and suggested remediation techniques.
