Environmental Site Design (ESD) Presentation

Our friends at Hord | Coplan | Macht kindly extended an invitation to present an overview of the forthcoming regulations and design guidance in Maryland that requires the application of Environmental Site Design (ESD) on all projects. This is a turning point for stormwater design and represents a significant change in how sites will be designed in Maryland.

Overlooking the Baltimore Harbor on a rainy day – no better place or time to talk about stormwater management! Many HCM clients and staff attended – it was a very productive couple of hours. Check out the presentation:

We are already working on projects under these new regulations, which will go into effect in May, 2010.

Contact us here if you’d like to have a group that would be interested in having us present this information.

Water in the Southwest

After visiting the Scottsdale area recently, we were struck by the incredible development and population in an area that has very little water.  Irrigated golf courses everywhere?  Really?  While we’re sure it has been considered a marvel of engineering and mankind’s triumph over nature to be able to support such infrastructure in the middle of the desert, in the terms of this millennium’s trends  (ie sustainablilty), it seems quite bizarre.  That we are from the wet east coast no doubt plays into this observation.

Nonetheless, the following article points out the challenges of over-development in arid areas and the folly in some water politics.  That rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse is illegal in some areas illustrates the crazy misguided politics.  Seems to be pretty much the opposite of sustainability at the most basic level.

Lake Mead Is Drying Up | GOOD.

Arid dwellers, do comment to share your perspective.

Green roof studies

We’ve seen varying claims on the hydrologic effects of green roofs. More studies like this one seem to be happening all the time.

Recycled Pervious Paving

Firestone is marketing a pervious paving product made from recycled tire material. Applications for vehicular use seem sketchy, but a sweet specification for hardscapes and walks. Check it out at http://www.firestonesp.com/sustainable_products.asp.

Pervious Paving Research

From RMC Research & Education Foundation:

The RMC Research & Education Foundation is proud to announce the release of its latest pervious concrete research report. The study Portland Cement Pervious Concrete Pavement: Field Performance Investigation on Parking Lot and Roadway Pavements was conducted at Cleveland State University over a three-year period. Field observations and testing were conducted at sites in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado, and Pennsylvania with results validating that pervious concrete has performed well in freeze-thaw environments, with little maintenance required.

Notable points Comment: Little Maintenance required – music to our ears, if it holds up. Inclusion of freeze-thaw climate areas should answer some questions that have been lingering for some.

East Coast Green Street Designer Sought for Panel at CNU XVI

From Mary Vogel of PlanGreen:

The Congress for New Urbanism is seeking a panel member who has
designed and seen built green streets (streets whose stormwater is
treated with bioretention) anywhere on the East Coast for its upcoming
Congress, April 3-6 in Austin, TX. Because of CNU’s orientation, the
more urban the street(s), the better. (We do have some fine examples
on the West Coast, with more to come.)

If you yourself are qualified and interested, or if you know someone
who is, please get in touch with Mary at  maryvogel at yahoo.com

Yet another term for doing the right thing… Green Infrastructure

Not sure exactly what the EPA is good at these days under the IFT (Idiot From Texas) regime – but coming up with new terms to describe doing the right thing is certainly up there on the list.

Now it is Green Infrastructure…. which is a combination of…. well, anything that is the color green on your site. Hate to be excitable, but yet another breakthrough for the EPA! Read all about it here.

Interesting local (Maryland) point… A look at the Green Infrastructure Glossary of Terms reveals nothing about ESD – Environmental Site Design – which is what Maryland is calling site design with stormwater management practices that are the color green. The EPA seems to call it Better Site Design and LID – Low Impact Development. Maybe we are wrong, but it does not seem Maryland and the EPA are fully in-step on these initiatives.

Ahh, politics – who knows what has – and is – going on between the entities and their “partners”. One can only guess:

Let’s see… Larry Coffman at Prince George’s County was THE FIRST to develop the idea – which he called Low Impact Development. Now Neil Weinstein at the LID Center waves the LID flag, with alot of help – and “partnering” – from the EPA. Nothing like the opportunity a “nonprofit organization” offers. Regardless, it seems like the folks at the Maryland Department of the Environment have no love lost for the term LID.

Just a note about LID – “pure” LID does differ from other techniques as it does attempt to mimic pre-development runof. The dirty little truth is that this rarely happens in the real world and is not really feasible in practice on most projects. This may be why the ONLY efficient tool to design and compute the effects of LID – The LID Module – has not been embraced by the LID Community. The hydrologic effects of an LID design can be computed so quickly that it clearly demonstrates just how difficult it is to design sites with the original LID intent. Anyone disagree? Do contact me. I would be glad to discuss why this is true. I’m an in-the-trenches designer who has been there, done that. Few of those who advocate LID are or have real world design experience.

Anyway, the Center for Watershed Protection came up with the term Better Site Design a few years back. Pretty much means the same thing as LID, except no major emphasis on mimicking predevelopment hydrology. Guess there are reasons why MDE does not want to use the CWP’s term….

But of course, now that Tom Schueler is no longer at the CWP, maybe it is…. oh, who knows.

Politics. That’s why we stay out of it, and just get the power to the ground on a project-by-project basis.

Ahhh, Paris – and a Killer Green Roof

While in Paris last spring at the top of the Arc de Triumph , we happened on this green roof. Quite a splash of green in the cityscape…. Makes you want to be there, more than anywhere else in the city.

Pervious Paving References

Happened upon a couple of pervious paving references funded or developed by a concrete industry group.

The first 182 page PDF is on maintenance – which is an incredibly important concern. View or download it here.

The other smaller doc is focused on the hydraulic performance. View or download it here.

Have not had the chance to dig into them myself – but it is good to finally start seeing this type of research on a controversial and promising BMP.

Rain Gardens

We’ve been design ALOT of rain gardens in Maryland. Right now, the rationale is squeezed into the current Maryland Design Manual by “qualification” for a rooftop disconnect. This will hopefully change in the future to facilitate more opportunities to apply these at-the-source measures. A nice DNR doc on rain gardens can be found here.

However, like most made-for-homeowner docs on this subject, they COMPLETELY MISSED the fact that – unless you have very sandy soils, you really should incorporate an underdrain system and man-made soil mixes. This probably illustrates the difference between what a homeowner can do in their yard and what a professional specifies on a plan for someone else to implement.