Find Posts By Topic

From Concrete to Soil, Cleaning Water the Natural Way

Linden project bioswale.

Linden Avenue N bioswale.

Forget the days of clunky concrete boxes along the street and say hello to lush planted areas! Not only do these planted areas beautify our communities, but they’re helping keep our environment clean, one drip at a time. Hidden within these planting strips are facilities called bioswales.

What is a bioswale, you may ask? A bioswale is a shallow vegetated ditch that is created to collect and convey stormwater runoff.  Stormwater runoff is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas. A bioswale’s vegetation and soil treat the stormwater by filtering out unnatural contaminants (like oil and and other sediments from the road). Bioswales also  allow rainwater to soak into the earth slowly instead of flooding streets.

Keeping our surroundings as clean as possible is a high priority for us; that’s why we’ve decided to use bioswales for many of our street improvement projects such as Linden Avenue North, completed last July.

Previously, concrete boxes were built along the street to hold stormwater before releasing it into a storm sewer. Now, with a natural retention area, the water will soak slowly into special bioretention soil that absorbs it, and the roots within the soil will naturally remove automobile and other pollutants before being released.

We believe that the continued use of these eco-friendly bioswales will improve our environment and create wonderful landscapes for our communities.