Low Impact Development
Low Impact Development (LID)
... absorbs rainwater, protects water quality, minimizes flooding
What is Low Impact Development?
There is a changing trend in land development and storm water management
throughout the United States. It has been called many things, including smart
growth, conservation development, and low impact development (LID).
LID is an alternative, ecologically-sensitive design that mimics the way
natural areas store and infiltrate rainwater. The LID approach protects local
and regional water quality by decentralizing storm water management and
absorbing rainfall throughout the landscape.
Low impact development minimizes the amount of impervious surfaces and
mitigates the impact of necessary impervious surfaces. There are a variety of
conservation practices that work together to mitigate these effects, such as
pervious paving, rain gardens, bioretention cells, bioswales, native
landscaping, and soil quality restoration.
A bioretention cell manages runoff from the imperviousness of a commercial
parking lot. A bioretention cell is a low impact development practice because it
allows rainwater to infiltrate, minimizes flooding and protects water quality.
The parking lot of the Northern Plains Resource Council building in Billings,
Montana consists of a grid of rings (recycled plastic) over a geotextile fabric
that holds the small gravels in place. 100 percent recycled glass cullet was
used instead of gravel in the top layer.