Category:Level 3 - Best management practices/Structural practices/Step pool

Category:Level 3 - Best management practices/Structural practices/Step pool

Stormwater step pool. Courtesy of Limnotech.

Main page for stormwater step pool

Stormwater step pools are defined by design features that address higher energy flows due to more dramatic slopes than dry swales or wet swales. Using a series of pools, riffle grade control, native species vegetation and a sand seepage filter bed, flow velocities are reduced, treated, and, where applicable, infiltrated. The physical characteristics of the stormwater step pools are similar to Rosgen A or B stream classification types, where “bedform occurs as a step/pool, cascading channel which often stores large amounts of sediment in the pools associated with debris dams” (Rosgen, 1996). These structures feature surface/subsurface runoff storage seams and an energy dissipation design that is aimed at attenuating the flow to a desired level through energy and hydraulic power equivalency principles (Anne Arundel County, 2009). Stormwater step pools are designed with a wide variety of native plant species depending on the hydraulic conditions and expected post-flow soil moisture at any given point within the stormwater step pool.

This page provides links to pages that provide information on stormwater step pools.