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Bioretention Basin
Going Green

Going Green: Bioretention Basin

Rainwater from most buildings ends up in the storm sewer system and that's a big concern because many storm systems are combined with sanitary sewage systems and heavy rain means untreated sewage and other contaminants pollute our streams and lakes. This building is different. Let's head up to the roof to see how it works.

Rainwater is collected in these drains and piped down the building, instead of going to the sewer, it goes here, what ecological engineer Doug Daley calls a bioretention basin.

"What we're doing is diverting it to the bioretention basin and the bioretention basin is soil and plants. And what we're hoping to do is hold it (the water) long enough in the bioretention basin so that evaporation can take over. We get evaporation through the soil and evaporation through the plants,” Daley said.

Here's the bioretention basin under construction. Then into the topsoil go the plants. Plants like spice bush, chokeberry, Virginia sweet spirer, witchhazel and sweet bay magnolia are all very tolerant of wet soil.

But what happens when there is a really big rainstorm?

"Now if we get a big, gully washer as sometimes happens in the summertime in Central New York, we also have an under drain system so if a very, very, very large storm event happens we can capture the water off the bottom after it's filtered through six feet of soil. Ultimately it will end up in the sewers, but the water going in is cleaner than it otherwise would've been," Daley said.

If we can makeover more buildings to reduce rainwater run-off and work bioretention basins in new building construction, then we can foresee building fewer and less expensive water treatment facilities.