Building Your LID Practice

While LID is becoming more common in Ontario, there is still a lack of training and experience amongst contractors, which can lead to poor construction techniques. You may have a great LID design, but without proper construction practices, your LID feature will not function as intended. Construction of an LID feature is different than a typical stormwater practice. It requires different materials, changes to typical construction sequencing, protection of infiltration areas, and vegetation within the practice serves both a functional and aesthetic role. Contractors must have a thorough understanding of these differences to ensure successful LID projects.

A typical LID construction process follows 6 major steps:

1. Mass Grading
2. Excavation
3. Installation of underground infrastructure
4. Backfilling with granular material
5. Biomedia installation
6. Planting 

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isybX9wk_Kk will demonstrate all 6 steps in action, through in the construction of a bioretention feature.

To learn more about LID construction techniques, join CVC and TRCA on November 14^th at the Pre-Latornell conference training Making It Work: Low Impact Development SWM Construction, Inspection, Maintenance, and Monitoring Module and check out Credit Valley Conservation’s Construction Guide and Construction Case Study

This blog entry was contributed by Jakub Wrobel and Julie McManus of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority