Stormwater Rain Gardens 102 – Top 10 Implementation and Maintenance Considerations

Project Highlights

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, numerous stormwater rain gardens have been designed and constructed in the Lower Mainland and throughout parts of British Columbia.  Some appear to function well; some fail in the first year; and others work for a time but either take excessive maintenance or slowly become ineffective.  The purpose of this presentation is to review lessons learned from implementation and maintenance experience, performance monitoring, and field observations.  This is a follow up to the presentation given last year, entitled “Stormwater Rain Gardens 101 – Top 10 Design Considerations”.  A top-ten list of implementation and maintenance factors to consider when implementing rain gardens will be discussed.

The implementation considerations discussed will include interim watering and planting schedule, construction phasing, restrictive covenants, interim silt and drainage control, construction/builder management, interim drainage measurement, enforcement and bylaws, warranty requirements and securities, street sweeping timing and performance monitoring.

Key learning points are:

• Successful rain garden implementation and maintenance;
• Improve the performance of rain gardens for stormwater benefits over the design life;
• Optimize timing of maintenance requirements; and
• Promote a positive view of these multi-function BMPs.