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Operation and Maintenance of Vegetated Filter Strips

Overview of Typical O&M Issues

Vegetated filter strips, also known as buffer strips or buffers, are vegetated land areas between a pollutant source and a surface water body. They can be stand-alone practices or used as a pre-treatment practice to other practices like bioretention or ponds. They reduce the flow velocity of water and filter and infiltrate pollutants such as sediment from stormwater. Vegetated filter strips may be subject to high public visibility, trash loads, sedimentation, pedestrian traffic, and even vehicular traffic or loads.

Vegetated filter strips require dedicated and regular maintenance to ensure proper and long-lasting operation, and in most cases a vegetated filter strip should be designed to be effective for at least 10 years (NRCS, 2010). The most frequently cited O&M concerns for vegetated filter strips include:

  • Flow channelization and erosion.


  • Insufficient/inadequate vegetative cover.


  • Sediment and debris accumulation leading to practice clogging.