Ensuring Bioretention System Performance Success: Guidance for the Verification of Bioretention Media via Quality Assurance and Control Testing

Engineered media is the heart of bioretention system performance. Therefore, preserving media integrity is of the utmost importance. A successful bioretention installation involves oversight not just onsite, but having a framework in place for transferring raw materials to a blended, commercially installed product. This framework should encompass standards of practice utilizing rigorous verification testing for qualifying, sourcing, verifying, producing, storing, and handling media. Media certification must be based on high standards of quality control in bioretention media raw materials and media composition, and use of strict quality assurance methods in the controlled manufacturing process, validated with numerous characterization, composition and performance tests conducted during and after production. Finally, bioretention media should be verified, post-construction, that the media was not compromised during the construction of the bioretention system. In following the appropriate media certification test program, the stormwater designer can be confident that use of media in his/her bioretention plan will yield the same performance as specified in the bioretention design manual.