Best Management Practice (BMP)

How Can BMPs Help?

Stormwater can pick up debris, chemicals, dirt, and other pollutants and flow into a storm sewer system or directly to wetlands, ponds, and lakes. Anything that enters a storm sewer system is discharged untreated into the water bodies we use for swimming, fishing, and providing drinking water. Raingardens, rain barrels and porous materials help intercept stormwater before it enters the storm sewer and helps remove pollutants from our local water resources.

What is a Raingarden?

A raingarden is a shallow depression that collects rain water and allows it to infiltrate. It’s planted with plants that can tolerate a wide range of soil moisture. Raingardens reduce the volume of water that enters the storm sewer system and ultimately enters local water bodies. Raingardens not only reduce pollution from street runoff and infiltrate water back into the ground, but they also enhance home landscaping.

Who Can Install a Raingarden?

Installing a raingarden on your own. The City of Roseville encourages residents that are not on street improvement projects to consider installing a raingarden on their own. Most yards have room for a raingarden that can collect roof runoff. Some residents are also able to collect driveway runoff or runoff from a slope. Your local Watershed District may have cost share funding and technical assistance to help you install your raingarden.

Raingardens for developments and businesses. The City of Roseville encourages developers and businesses to consider raingardens when determining how best to infiltrate runoff from their site. Several developers and businesses have created beautiful raingardens in our community.

Rain barrels

Did you know that a moderate storm that dumps 1 inch of rain produces about 600 gallons of runoff from a roof surface of 1,000 square feet? Imagine the number of rooftops in your community and you can quickly see how much runoff is headed toward the storm drains, picking up pollutants common in urban areas along the way, and headed toward our lakes, streams and rivers. Rain barrels are one way of trapping some of this runoff. They are not only ecologically responsible, but they also help conserve water.

Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

Porous Materials

Porous pavement is used to describe several different surfaces (asphalt, concrete, pavers) that all provide a similar benefit: the capture and infiltration of stormwater. Traditional concrete and asphalt surfaces are impervious, causing rain that falls on that surface to be deflected as runoff. In contrast, porous pavements allow water to pass through them, into underlying storage spaces and eventually into surrounding soils. This infiltration also reduces potential hazards of ice buildup.

Porous pavements can be constructed of asphalt, concrete, or interlocking pavers. Paving with porous materials is more costly than using traditional material; a small portion of the added expense is the paving material but significant bed preparation is also required for a successful installation. As these materials do require some different maintenance (vacuum sweeping, no sand use, no sealcoating) they are generally recommended for use in parking and other low-traffic applications.

Porous Materials are typically an eligible component for cost share funding through your local Watershed District.