Cultivating Stormwater Services with Soil Decompaction and Amendment
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 1
Abstract
Stormwater management has traditionally focused on increased runoff from impervious areas (IAs) accompanying urbanization. Far less consideration has been directed to significant changes in the hydrologic characteristics of urban soils that also accompany urban development. Mass grading and standard site development practices disturb and compact urban soil profiles, dramatically reducing infiltration capacity, rooting depths, and the stormwater services provided by urban green spaces. Stormwater services may be purposefully restored using soil decompaction and amendment to rebuild porous permeable organic-rich soil profiles in urban pervious landscapes. In this study, the use of suburban subsoiling (SS) (soil decompaction and compost amendment) for restoring stormwater services was evaluated on a decommissioned highway roadbed and construction staging area that had been designated for afforestation by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration. Suburban subsoiling increased the mean infiltration capacity of the site’s disturbed compacted soils by more than an order of magnitude, with dramatic improvements in the bulk density (), organic matter (), and potential rooting depth ( to ) of the restored soil profile. Integrating SS with standard mass grading and land development practices can transform the built environment by cultivating sustainable stormwater services in anthropogenic landscapes.
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Data Availability Statement
Data presented in the figures and tables are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the expert contributions by George Leidig from Autrusa Enterprises in performing soil spading and the maintenance staff from MDOT SHA District 7, who performed soil ripping and compost application. Special thanks to Sharon Hawkins for her careful attention to detail and skillful navigation of MDOT SHA administrative procedures. This project would not have been possible without the efforts of Dan Uebersax and Margot Bartosh in the Office of Environmental Design, who championed this research, navigated the collaborative engagement of key colleagues across SHA, and graciously solved some of the most unexpected challenges encountered along the way. Their support of this project and commitment to improving the outcomes and long-term success of MDOT SHA projects are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are extended to Neil Haines, Dave Smith, Paul Haines, Jim Jones, Roberta Cowan, Dave Lubman, Rob Hill, and Rich Wilke for their contributions to the project. Thoughtful comments from T. Whitlow and three anonymous reviewers significantly improved the manuscript and are gratefully acknowledged. The authors acknowledge the use of base images in Fig. 1 courtesy of Maryland Statewide Imagery. Work was supported by funding in compliance with 23 U.S.C. 505, “State Planning and Research” program, and is gratefully acknowledged.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 26 • Issue 1 • January 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 6, 2020
Accepted: Aug 21, 2020
Published online: Nov 16, 2020
Published in print: Jan 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 16, 2021
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