Summary of permit requirements for bioretention

The following are requirements of the Construction Stormwater General Permit.

• A separation distance of 3 feet is required between the bottom of the bioretention practice and the elevation of the seasonally high water table (saturated soil) or top of bedrock (i.e. there must be a minimum of 3 feet of undisturbed soil beneath the infiltration practice and the seasonally high water table or top of bedrock).
• To prevent clogging of the infiltration or filtration system with trash, gross solids, and particulate matter, use of a pretreatment device such as a vegetated filter strip, vegetated swale, small sedimentation basin (forebay), or water quality inlet (e.g., grit chamber) to settle particulates before the stormwater discharges into the infiltration or filtration system is required.
• Bioretention practices shall discharge through the soil or filter media in 48 hours or less. Additional flows that cannot be infiltrated or filtered in 48 hours should be routed to bypass the system through a stabilized discharge point. The period of inundation is defined as the time from the high water level in the practice to 1 to 2 inches above the bottom of the facility. This criterion was established to provide the following: wet-dry cycling between rainfall events; unsuitable mosquito breeding habitat; suitable habitat for vegetation; aerobic conditions; and storage for back-to-back precipitation events.
• It is required that impervious area construction is completed and pervious areas established with dense and healthy vegetation prior to introduction of stormwater into a bioretention practice.
• If the bioretention practice must comply with the CSW permit, the following prohibitions apply:
  • areas that receive discharges from vehicle fueling and maintenance;
  • areas with less than three (3) feet of separation distance from the bottom of the infiltration system to the elevation of the seasonally saturated soils or the top of bedrock;
  • areas that receive discharges from industrial facilities which are not authorized to infiltrate industrial stormwater under an NPDES/SDS Industrial Stormwater Permit issued by the MPCA;
  • areas where high levels of contaminants in soil or groundwater will be mobilized by the infiltrating stormwater;
  • areas of predominately Hydrologic Soil Group D (clay) soils;
  • areas within 1,000 feet up‐gradient, or 100 feet down‐gradient of active karst features;
  • areas within a Drinking Water Supply Management Area (DWSMA) as defined in Minn. R. 4720.5100, subp. 13, if the system will be located:
    • in an Emergency Response Area (ERA) within a DWSMA classified as having high or very high vulnerability as defined by the Minnesota Department of Health; or
    • in an ERA within a DWSMA classified as moderate vulnerability unless a regulated MS4 Permittee performed or approved a higher level of engineering review sufficient to provide a functioning treatment system and to prevent adverse impacts to groundwater; or
    • outside of an ERA within a DWSMA classified as having high or very high vulnerability, unless a regulated MS4 Permittee performed or approved a higher level of engineering review sufficient to provide a functioning treatment system and to prevent adverse impacts to groundwater.; and
  • areas where soil infiltration rates are more than 8.3 inches per hour unless soils are amended to slow the infiltration rate below 8.3 inches per hour.
• If the bioretention practice is being designed to meet the requirements of the MPCA Permit, the required treatment volume is the water quality volume V_(wq) of 1 inch of runoff from the new impervious surfaces created from the project, calculated as an instantaneous volume. If part of the overall V_wq is to be treated by other BMPs, subtract that portion from the V_wq to determine the part of the V_wq to be treated by the bioretention practice. Retrofit and supplemental systems do not need to meet this requirement, provided new impervious surfaces are not created.
• Select the design infiltration rate from the table based on the least permeable soil horizon within the first 3 feet below the bottom elevation of the proposed infiltration practice.
• Field-measured infiltration rates shall be divided by a safety factor of 2.
• Some form of dry or wet pre-treatment is required prior to the discharge of stormwater into the bioretention practice, to remove any sediment and fines that may result in clogging of the soils in the sediment basin area.
• Since most bioretention systems are not designed for quantity control they generally do not have peak discharge limits. However outflow must be limited such that erosion does not occur down gradient.

Related pages

• Bioretention terminology (including types of bioretention)
• Overview for bioretention
• Design criteria for bioretention
• Construction specifications for bioretention
• Operation and maintenance of bioretention
• Assessing the performance of bioretention
• Cost-benefit considerations for bioretention
• Calculating credits for bioretention
• Soil amendments to enhance phosphorus sorption
• Summary of permit requirements for bioretention
• Supporting material for bioretention
• External resources for bioretention
• References for bioretention
• Requirements, recommendations and information for using bioretention with no underdrain BMPs in the MIDS calculator
• Requirements, recommendations and information for using bioretention with an underdrain BMPs in the MIDS calculator