Keeping Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Green & Reducing impacts of Low Impact Development (LID)

TreeDiaper® Key Functions That Enhance The Functionality of GSI and LID

- Catch and Store Stormwater, then Slowly Release as Soil Dries

- Reduce Stormwater Runoff

- Wash off Deicing Salts

        Green Stormwater Infrastructure are designed to receive the stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces like roads and parking lots. Some of the stormwater runoff infiltrates and refills ground water, evaporates and transpired by plants in the system. The plants in the system also clean up pollutants so the water at the outlet is clean enough to be discharged to the surface water system. This reduces the environmental impacts of development projects, hence these systems are also referred to as Low Impact Developments.

        However, plants tend to struggle because the porous media used in these systems causes frequent overwatering and underwatering stresses. Excess amount of deicing salts in the winter months can harm and kill plants too. So it is not uncommon to see GSI not green. Frequent replacement of dead plants increases the environmental impacts. When TreeDiaper® technology is used in GSI projects, the excess amount of stormwater runoff is harvested and stored to reduce the runoff. To a certain degree, it reduces the overwatering problems. When the soil dries, it releases water to keep soil moist. The water flow direction is controlled by osmosis. Because of the unique mechanism, when deicing salt is present, it changes the osmotic equilibrium and make TreeDiaper® to release water. This water would rinse the salt away or at least dilute the salt concentration. 

        In the above VDOT roadside bioswale trial started in 2020, TreeDiaper® technology was tested in real life situation. For the first 2.5 months, there was 15 inches of rain. The soil moisture under TreeDiaper® was found to be lower than the controls. During a drought in May 2021, the soil moisture under TreeDiaper® was higher than the control. See below for the soil moisture and rainfall charts. rainfall data was obtained from wunderground.com (KRIC station, which is about 20 miles from the testing site). This proves that TreeDiaper® technology stabilizes the soil moisture by absorbing excess water up when the soil is too wet and releasing it as soil dries.