ESD/LID and Stormwater Management BMPs
Brightwater applies Environmental Site Design (ESD) or Low Impact Development (LID) techniques to manage stormwater, recharge groundwater, restore water quality, and reduce erosive flows to projects including stormwater retrofits and new development, and stormdrain improvement.
LID and ESD use a distributed stormwater management approach where watersheds are broken into micro sub-catchments where management can be provided in microscale practices. This approach utilizes the landscape and existing natural resources to increase time of concentration and storage volumes. LID and ESD manage and reduce the runoff volume and peak discharge within each micro-catchment which in turn reduces the runoff volume and peak discharge for the entire watershed. New regulations requiring ESD to the maximum extent practicable for new development as described in the revised Chapter 5 of the MD SWM manual are now in effect.
Brightwater has applied an inventive approach to improve drainage in low-lying coastal bay communities. This approach has the potential to be applied throughout older developments in the coastal plain that have similar challenging features such as narrow right-of-ways, existing utility conflicts, and high water tables
Brightwater has designed and constructed bioretention cells and bio-swales. Recently, Brightwater has assessed and designed BMP retrofits employing ESD to the maximum extent possible for failing BMPs.
Brightwater has worked closely with LID pioneer Michael Clar of Ecosite on numerous LID projects designed and constructed in the past decade. Michael Clar pioneered the LID approach to Stormwater Management with Prince Georges County starting in the 1980’s, and wrote the Environmental Site Design Manual for the Queen Anne’s County Department of Public Works in 2007.