Land use
patterns and increasing pressures on water resources demand creative urban
stormwater management solutions. A group of researchers from Virginia Tech,
Cornell, and the University of California at Davis have been investigating
innovative ways to maximize the potential of trees to address stormwater in a
series of studies. The goal is to develop approaches that exploit the ability of
trees to handle stormwater in difficult, highly built city or urban areas where
asphalt can be the dominant cover feature.
The US
Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Grants Program supports this
series of studies. The results of the studies were published in the
November-December issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. The
project, and resulting paper entitled, “Can Urban Tree Roots Improve
Infiltration through Compacted Subsoils for Stormwater Management?” was
published online October 23,
2008.
Every year,
StormCon features presentations on bioremediation and biodegradation
along with dozens of other topics. Presentations neither promote nor endorse
any proprietary BMP, technology, or company, nor do they simply describe the
features of a product; however, examples of BMP installations with data on the
effectiveness of a particular system may be presented. New research drives our
conference, and next year, we are very exited about the research that will be
presented. New technology means more tools for dealing with stormwater
management and StormCon will have it all.