The bioswales that are being installed along the roads in a new development in Mississauga, Ontario, is like a Brita filter for rainwater, says Lukasz Wagner, VP of development and construction with Port Credit West Village Partners.

That bioswale natural filtration system in the Brightwater development will be one of the largest systems in North America, and it is estimated that it will process and filter 300 million litres over the next 10 years. It also will help restore the Lake Ontario shoreline on which the development is situated.

The system could be implemented in other new communities, he said. “This is going to turn into a case study for not just the city of Mississauga but I think other municipalities as well. I think it’s going to be a new norm for a lot of communities going forward specifically because it’s functional, it’s going to be a very pleasant and it meets a lot of different needs for people.”

Bioswales act as natural filters for rainwater and pollutants that normally enter lakes and rivers. Rain runs off to the side of the roadway and goes through different soil layers that effectively clean the water before it flows into Lake Ontario. Essentially, it’s ‘green infrastructure’, as Lauren Abrahams, a senior project leader at PUBLIC WORK, described it to Daily Commercial News.

But it’s not a system that is visible to the naked eye, because all the hand-formed prefabricated concrete sections placed in trenches have all been backfilled carefully, and what people will see are the plants.

What’s really remarkable about the project is the scale, Abrahams said.“Every single new public street has this green infrastructure integrated within it. Through a much more natural approach, that’s a way of allowing the streets to do what pipes and the engineering stuff usually does, but it’s also a way of creating this park-like environment and streets which is so different than what we are used to seeing.”

If you want to learn more, you can find a ton of information on bioswales on the internet, or at the Brighwater website.

Source:

Brightwater bioswales: A massive Brita system for rainwater. Daily Commercial News, Nov. 14, 2023

Cover image: Brightwater photo