BIOSWALES

What are Bioswales?

Bioswales are landscape features that collect polluted stormwater runoff, soak it into the ground, and filter out pollution. Bioswales are similar to rain gardens but are designed to capture much more runoff coming from larger areas of impervious surfaces like streets and parking lots. They also have more complicated design features such as layers of engineered soil and gravel, perforated pipe underdrains, and overflow structures to help handle runoff from bigger storms. Similar to rain gardens, bioswales use native plants to help absorb more water and prevent erosion. Typically, an engineer and a landscape architect are needed to ensure the bioswale is designed and built correctly.