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Fact Sheets
The Urban Watershed Research Facility, Edison, New Jersey (PDF) (2 pp, 211 KB) (EPA/600/F-08/005) July 2008
In an undeveloped and undisturbed environment, rainfall is naturally filtered and absorbed. In an urban setting, with development and lots of impervious surfaces,storm water transports pollutants through city streets to receiving water, resulting in many water quality issues. Scientists at the Urban Watershed Management Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey, investigate technical approaches to managing this wet-weather flow and runoff generated from rainfall in an urban setting.The facility occupies 205 acres on the former Raritan Arsenal property, a suburban location about 30 miles southwestof New York City. The many buildings and trailers are in an isolated 20-acre open space established to develop and evaluate the performance of common and innovativestorm water management practices. The laboratory building is configured to conduct bench-scale analyses of environmental samples.
Green Infrastructure Research Program
Providing Research Solutions to Manage Wet-Weather Flow
Design/Construction of a Permeable Pavement Demonstration Site at the Edison Environmental Center (PDF) (2 pp, 195 KB) (EPA/600/F-09/038) October 2009 - Abstract
Rain Gardens (PDF) (2 pp, 2.3 Mb)(600/F-08/005) December 2008
Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions, often located at low points in landscapes, designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. The gardens ’ sandy soils allow stormwater to infiltrate quickly to the native soils below and eventually contribute to groundwater recharge. Pollutants and nutrients in stormwater runoff are removed by rain garden vegetation and soils through biological and physical processes such as plant uptake and sorption to soil particles. In comparison with stormwater release to receiving waters through conventional storm drain systems, infiltrating stormwater through rain gardens reduces peak flows and stressor loadings.