Short, T

The majority of the area occupied by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus is covered with impervious surfaces. The volume of stormwater runoff that is discharged to surface waters is directly related to the percentage of land area covered with impervious surfaces. This runoff will result in an increase of sediment, nutrient and thermal pollution in surface waters such as trout streams, rivers, lakes and ponds. Bioretention basins which incorporate a variety of plants are thought to be effective bio-filters to increase infiltration associated with stormwater and thus decreasing runoff. To evaluate the effectiveness of bioretention to increase infiltration, two bioretention basins were constructed on the UW - Stevens Point campus. One basin was planted with cool season turf grasses and the other planted with native vegetation. The basins are 15 cm (6 in) deep and collect runoff from two source areas of 70.3 m2 (757 ft2). The objective of this study is to compare vegetation effects on the surplus runoff water at different depths in the soil profile. We hypothesize that the native prairie vegetation will exhibit a greater infiltration rate than the turf grass. Results from this study will advance our understanding of the composition of plants required to create effective storm water collection basins.