Lahti Drive/Britton Road Bio-infiltration Swale

Project Overview

This project, located at the southeast corner of Britton Road and Lahti Drive, targets treatment of stormwater flows draining to Lake Whatcom via Silver Beach Creek. Stormwater drainage into Silver Beach Creek has a long record of high phosphorus and fecal coliform bacteria measurements. The Creek also suffers from substantial bank erosion. This project is downstream of a densely populated, 40-acre subdivision making stormwater treatment especially effective. Stormwater from the subdivision now flows through a vegetated swale with eight treatment cells designed to remove contaminants by infiltration, soil adsorption, and plant uptake. Special soil in the treatment cells targets phosphorus removal from stormwater before it enters Lake Whatcom. The project was completed below budget at the end of September 2010.

The Lahti Drive Stormwater Improvement Project is the first of three Whatcom County Public Works stormwater improvement projects in the Silver Beach Creek sub-basin. Part of the funding for this project came from a Stormwater Retrofit and Low-Impact Development Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology.