Chagrin River Watershed LID Demonstration Projects

Bioretention Swale Retrofit

Orange Village Drainage Improvement Project, Sterncest Road

Project Goal
Use a linear bioretention swale system within the right-of-way of a residential street to reduce and treat stormwater runoff before connecting to a storm sewer system.

Original System
An open swale system was built in the late 1950’s that was designed to capture and move road runoff to channels that run through rear yards on private property, however no access easements were established and the system was not properly maintained. Over time the channels filled with sediment and debris, resulting in little to no gradient in the channels, standing water, and chronic street and yard flooding.

Design Considerations
Fixing the original system would have required the Village to obtain access easements from multiple property owners, clearing heavy brush and trees along property lines, and re-grading hundreds of feet of the original channel system. The new swale system did not require any brush or tree removal because the construction stayed within the existing Village road right of way, and provided a connection to Lander Road storm sewer. The new biorentention swale was designed to reduce 80% of the overall flow to the storm sewer connection because the runoff will infiltrate into the soil and be used by the plants.

Bioretention Swale Details

The bioretetion swale system is an open grass swale with a perforated storm sewer pipe below an engineered soil mix. The soil mix is composed of 70% sand and 30% peat or leaf compost, and allows for rapid infiltration of water runoff and acts as a filter system to remove pollutants. Within the swale system there are landscaped rain garden areas around each catch basin. Surface stormwater runoff is designed to flow to the catch basin and rain garden areas, which fill to a maximum of 6” around each catch basin. Once the water reaches over 6” in the catch basins, it overflows directly to the storm sewer to prevent flooding. Any pooled water that does not get to the storm sewer will be used by the plants or infiltrated through the soil mix and absorbed by the ground.

The Orange Village Service Department will maintain the stormwater system and rain garden areas for 3 years. After three years the landscape maintenance will become responsibility of the homeowners. Orange Village and CRWP will work with homeowner to ensure easy transition after 3 year period.

Orange Village Bioretention Project Video
(LESS Productions)

Orange Village and Pepper Pike Biotretention Monitoring Project Video
(LESS Productions)

Fact Sheet - Roadside Bioretention in Orange Village (pdf 643kb)

For more information on this project please contact CRWP or (440) 975-3870.