Mixed-bag Gastonia BMPs demonstrate rain garden, wetland cooperation effects

THIS IS IT: Craven Hudson points out one
aspect of the multiple-BMP.

Lilly Loughner photos

Stormwater pollutants at the Citizens’ Resource Center in Gastonia face a combo attack: a rain garden and wetland that both filter harmful pollutants.

The Best Management Practice, installed in 1999 by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (which uses part of the center for its Gaston County Center) filters and controls runoff from a road and the facility’s parking lot.

The .1-acre BMP includes a sediment pond that was part of the building’s construction phase. The two components create an interconnected system to detain stormwater flow and improve water quality.

ALL SYSTEMS 'GO': A bioretention
system alongside the Citizens' Resource Center in Gastonia uses its wetland portion to manage and filter stormwater.

Stormwater enters the BMP through a rain garden. Under a topsoil layer, the rain garden uses a sand, then a gravel layer, which helps water filter down. Once water reaches the gravel, it drains into an attached wetlands through PVC pipe.

The wetland, vegetated with wax myrtle, cypress and grasses, removes unwanted nutrients. From the wetland, a grassy swale system carries any excess stormwater into a tributary of Long Creek, classified as impaired by the state.

HUDSON'S RIVER: Hudson traces the flow of water through a BMP that combines multiple stormwater treatment methods, including a wetland and rain garden.

The idea of multiple-BMP use to clean up stormwater is becoming more widespread with stormwater extension professionals, says David Fogarty, N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Gaston County director.

Installed primarily for teaching and demonstrations, the $7,000 BMP, built with EPA 319 grant funds, has been viewed by numerous tours due to its accessibility to the Cooperative Extension Center.

"We’ve had stormwater BMP workshops at the building, and we incorporate that as a hands-on demonstration site," says Craven Hudson, Gaston County Extension agent for natural resources.

HOLD THAT WATER: Runoff from the Citizens' Resource Center's parking lot collects in the BMP's wetland portion before it's directed through a grassy swale and into the nearby stream.

To view a rain garden and wetland working effectively together, visit the Gaston County Citizens’ Resource Center, 1303 Dallas-Cherryville Hwy.

For information: David Fogarty, 704.922.2130 or david_fogarty@ncsu.edu

-- Lilly Loughner

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