LID Demonstration Project for Seaside Village in Bridgeport, Connecticut

摘要

This paper will describe the process to create a demonstration project of Bioretention systems for a small residential community in the south end of Bridgeport, Connecticut. This project has the residents of Seaside Village, the City of Bridgeport andthe Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory (UEDLAB) at Yale University as the primary stakeholders. This author provided technical engineering expertise for this project.Seaside Village is a small cluster of brick single family residences located just north of Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT. Approximately 300 acres of this section of Bridgeport consists of filled soils on top of old tidal marshes. The filling was done in the late 1700s. Due to the flat topography of the area, many of the residences experience flooding during some rainfall events.The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the effectiveness of Bioretention systems for infiltrating stormwater runoff and to encourage their construction within Seaside Village for the roof drains from theresidents. The UEDLAB also wanted to use the demonstration project to look at specific design modifications of Bioretention systems, although no specific ideas were initially presented.Soil tests conducted on the site showed varying depth of earth fill on top of marine clays with peat, which were underlain by medium to coarse sand. Because these filled soils are common occurrences in urban areas, the author felt that a successful Bioretention demonstration project at this location would provide a catalyst for implementing in other locations. However what transpired in this process led to an undesirable outcome and became a "lessons learned" approach for LID public demonstration projects.The paper will present the results of the site investigation, the design methodologies recommended, and the results of the construction process as well as the reasons for the undesirable outcome.