Maryland Department of Transportation State highway Administration (MDOT SHA) manages a standard specification for both a Topsoil and Bio-Retention Soil Mix. Producers must be pre-qualified via annual testing to be on the eligible supplier list.
Engineered Soils
Maryland Department of Environment: MDE B.4.1 Bio-Retention Filter Media is designed to meet the Maryland Stormwater Design Manual, Appendix B.4.1, MDE B.4.1 Bio-Retention Filtering Media
LVS Bio-Retention Soil is designed specifically to absorb, infiltrate, and filter stormwater runoff into the ground where it can safely recharge our groundwater systems reducing or eliminating surface flooding and potential related damage. The goal of a bioretention basin is to capture and divert stormwater runoff displaced from impervious surfaces. Well-designed basins also filter out untreated pollutants that otherwise might flow directly into waterways. Many bioretention basins are large in scale and while they can have attractive plantings, these utilitarian designed basins are generally located out of sight, at the low end of a parking lot or downslope from a building or road. LVS Bio-Retention Soil is also designed to be used in Rain Gardens. Rain Gardens are basically smaller versions of bioretention basins and usually planted with a more ornamental and colorful planting design. Rain Gardens are used for both new construction and retrofitting older properties to bring them into stormwater compliance. These aesthetically pleasing rain garden features are typically designed to blend into the greater landscape design of the property.
A stormwater management plan is now a requirement with all new construction that creates impervious surfaces. Water must be contained on site or at least slowed down to prevent harmful flooding and pollutant movement. Bio-Retention basins and Rain Gardens are part of the building code and are required for most building projects including renovations and expansions.
Rain Garden Soil is designed to manage stormwater much like bioretention soils; however, they are generally used in smaller scale applications with more ornamental and visually pleasing plantings. This is because rain gardens are often located close to and around buildings and are integrated into the larger aesthetic landscape design. These smaller scale features are a more convenient choice for old sites that are required to upgrade their stormwater infrastructure to meet current building and zoning codes. Rain Gardens are effective because they can be implemented in multiple small installations interspersed in multiple locations around a property that collectively capture the total volume of displaced stormwater.
A stormwater management plan is now a requirement with all new construction that creates impervious surfaces. Water must be contained on site or at least slowed down to prevent flooding and pollution. Bioretention basins are part of the building code and are required for most all building projects including renovations and expansions. The understanding and design of these soils is evolving rapidly.
Other industry names used are Bio-soil, Stormwater Soil, Filter Media, Amended Soil, Engineered Soil.
PWD Planting Soil was originally developed by the Philadelphia Water Department as part of a large green infrastructure policy. The benefits of greening an urban environment are numerous. Trees and plantings absorb rainwater, provide shade, animal and insect habitat, clean the air and beautify the landscape. PWD Planting Soil was designed for urban tree plantings and has since been adopted as a great all-purpose landscape soil. PWD requires blenders to certify their compliance of this mix twice a year. Laurel Valley Soils has been involved with the PWD Green Infrastructure program from inception and has been an approved supplier every year. The performance of this soil is extremely consistent, adhering to a specification which ingredients are blended to meet a very strict set of parameters. LVS PWD Planting Soil is a well-balanced loam soil with a rich dark brown color, is screened to a half inch, and is stored out of the elements in an expansive covered building. Because of our large scale infrastructure and state of the art equipment, we are able to stockpile inventories so that we can provide our soil year round to meet our customers’ needs, whether that be one truck load or a thousand truck loads.
PWD Stormwater Soil was originally developed by the Philadelphia Water Department as part of a large green infrastructure policy. The PWD Stormwater Soil was designed to mitigate stormwater runoff when used in applications such as rain gardens, bioretention basins and bioswales. The soil is designed to absorb, infiltrate, and filter stormwater runoff into the ground where it can safely recharge groundwater systems and reduce surface flooding. PWD requires blenders to certify their compliance of this mix twice a year. Laurel Valley Soils has been involved with the PWD Green Infrastructure program from inception and has been an approved supplier every year. Many other cities and municipalities have since adopted this well preforming specification. The goal of a bioretention basin is to capture and divert stormwater runoff displaced from impervious surfaces. Well-designed basins also filter out untreated pollutants that otherwise might flow directly into waterways. Many bioretention basins are large in scale and while they can have attractive plantings, these utilitarian designed basins are generally located out of sight, at the low end of a parking lot or downslope from a building or road.
A stormwater management plan is now a requirement with all new construction that creates impervious surfaces. Water must be contained on site or at least slowed down to prevent flooding and pollutant movement. Bioretention basins are part of the building and zoning code and are required for most building projects including renovations and expansions. The understanding and design of these soils is evolving rapidly.
rooflite® certified green roof media is a lightweight, aggregate-based, soilless growing media designed to grow a variety of diverse types of vegetated landscape systems on structure. The major benefits for using green roof media are that it is a lightweight and durable soil that helps reduce stormwater runoff, improves the building’s energy efficiency, and extends the life of the roof. Laurel Valley Soils is the Mid-Atlantic blender for Skyland USA LLC, the owner of the rooflite brand of green roof media products, with blending partners across the USA as well as other locations internationally. For more information about the full product line of rooflite products use this link; www.rooflitesoil.com.
