Regional Project Profile
Morris Arboretum Parking Lot Stormwater Management Techniques 

Category: Implemented Retrofit Design   
Type of BMP: porous paving with subsurface infiltration bed, infiltration trench

| Description | Location | Partners | Cost | Contact |
 

The University of Pennsylvania’s Morris Arboretum installed a porous pavement system in 1987 - one of the first examples of this type of BMP in the Philadelphia region. Individual parking spaces are paved with porous asphalt, which allows runoff to seep down into a recharge bed underneath the parking lot. The recharge bed allows water to infiltrate into deeper ground, and eventually to aquifers. The porous asphalt also captures some runoff flowing from the drive lanes, which are made of conventional asphalt.

Gravel-filled infiltration trenches line the entrance driveway. These trenches contain perforated pipe that conveys runoff from the trench to a nearby meadow, where the water will help sustain the existing vegetation and also infiltrate into the soil for groundwater recharge. The use of these BMPs reduces the volume of runoff contributed to the Wissahickon Creek.
 

County:         Philadelphia
Watershed:   Wissahickon Creek


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Andropogon Associates
Cahill Associates
The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania