Regional Project Profile
Riverbend Environmental Education Center

Category: Implemented Retrofit  
Type of BMP: Porous asphalt parking lot, bioswale

| Description | Location | Partners | Cost | Contact |
 

In 2004, the Center underwent a master plan planning process in order to outline areas of program growth and habitat restoration initiatives. The planning process identified Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce water volumes and improve the quality of outflow into Saw Mill Run, including: 1) Porous asphalt parking lot; and 2) Bioswale.

1) Porous Asphalt Parking Lot
The replacement of the Center’s parking lot was a top priority because it was located adjacent to Saw Mill Run which was vulnerable to the oils, road salts and other fertilizers that would run-off from the parking lot into its waters during storm events. The old asphalt parking area also needed to be replaced, presenting golden opportunity to implement such a BMP.

The underlying recharge bed stores water and allows it to percolate. During construction, soil below the storage bed was loosened at the natural substrate level to allow for greater infiltration and aquifer recharge. This has improved water table levels and calmed water velocity in the vicinity.

This stormwater BMP has had a positive effect on Saw Mill Run. Erosion has subdued and aquatic diversity is improving. Pollution (e.g. nutrients and heavy metals), trash and sediments are filtered by the porous asphalt, and thus are prevented from entering Saw Mill Run. Spring Mill Road was re-contoured on one side to capture run-off as well.

2) Bioswale
Water from the pervious parking lot is discharged into a bioswale, which acts as a second line of defense before pollutants and nutrients can reach Saw Mill Run. This vegetated swale uses soil and native plants to infiltrate stormwater, trap pollutants, calm water velocity, regulate water temperature, facilitate evapotranspiration, and recharge the water table.

The bioswale plant list (including shrubs, trees, and seed mixes), and planting sequence are available here.
 

County:         Gladwyne, Montgomery County
Watershed:   Schuylkill River

Riverbend Environmental Education Center is located at 1950 Spring Mill Road in Gladwyne. Located at the confluence of Saw Mill Run into the Schuylkill River, the Center is a natural haven amidst heavy development in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The Center, a non-profit organization, is a valuable community resource since it serves to educate the public, especially children, about environmental processes. The Center’s location puts the environmentally sensitive area in a precarious position. The Center and its land sit at the bottom of a steep valley, located below many miles of disturbed riparian acreage. The velocity and volume of run-off worsens each year and causes damage in Lower Merion Township and on the Center’s property, where a flood took out a bridge in 2004. To address water quality problems, erosion and flooding on the Center’s property and in the community, a porous paving parking lot and bioswale were installed in October 2006.
 

Riverbend Environmental Education Center, Montgomery County Conservation District, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (Schuylkill Watershed Initiative Grant -SWIG), The Ed and Christine Snider Foundation, Claneil Foundation, Lower Merion Township, Anonymous Foundation, TreeVitalize and Cahill Associates, Inc. (engineering).
 

The total project cost $172,000. Funding from a SWIG Grant, The Ed and Christine Snider Foundation, Claneil Foundation, Lower Merion Township, Anonymous Foundation and TreeVitalize. 
 

Amelia Abromaitis
(610) 527-5234 x. 105
aabromaitis@riverbendeec.org