Bioretention media storage

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box plot of nine documented bioretention media

Bioretention filter media may be assumed to have a storage capacity of 0.4.

This has been calculated as the difference between the media porosity and field capacity from a number of studies.

  1. Marine sand: 0.51 - 0.06 = 0.45 [1]
  2. Marine sand with 10 % compost: 0.51 - 0.11 = 0.40 [1]
  3. Marine sand with 20 % compost: 0.53 - 0.12 = 0.41 [1]
  4. Marine sand with 20 % compost & 20 % topsoil: 0.52 - 0.16 = 0.36 [1]
  5. Sand: 0.46 - 0.1 = 0.36 [2]
  6. NC sandy bioretention mix: 0.47 - 0.07 = 0.40 [3]
  7. Bioretention soil I: 0.71 - 0.1 = 0.61 [4]
  8. Bioretention soil II: 0.52 - 0.1 = 0.42 [4]
  9. M minus mean θini: 0.76 - 0.32 = 0.44 [5]:



  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Liu, Ruifen, and Elizabeth Fassman-Beck. “Pore Structure and Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Engineered Media for Living Roofs and Bioretention Based on Water Retention Data.” Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 23, no. 3 (March 2018): 04017065. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0001621
  2. Saxton, K E, and W J Rawls. “Soil Water Characteristic Estimates by Texture and Organic Matter for Hydrologic Solutions.” Soil Science Society of America Journal, 2006. doi:10.2136/sssaj2005.0117.
  3. Davis, Allen P., Robert G. Traver, William F. Hunt, Ryan Lee, Robert A. Brown, and Jennifer M. Olszewski. “Hydrologic Performance of Bioretention Storm-Water Control Measures.” Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 17, no. 5 (May 2012): 604–14. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000467.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Li, Houng, and Allen P. Davis. “Urban Particle Capture in Bioretention Media. I: Laboratory and Field Studies.” Journal of Environmental Engineering 134, no. 6 (June 2008): 409–18. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2008)134:6(409).
  5. Roy-Poirier, A., Y. Filion, and P. Champagne. “An Event-Based Hydrologic Simulation Model for Bioretention Systems.” Water Science and Technology 72, no. 9 (November 11, 2015): 1524–33. doi:10.2166/wst.2015.368.