Rain Guardian

Rain Guardian™ keeps trash, leaves and other debris out of LID/GI Systems; including swales, filtration basins, infiltration basins, and bio-retention systems. Rain Guardian simplifies maintenance by collecting sand, leaves, grass clippings, and other debris in a confined location. Rain Guardians make pretreatment maintenance quick and easy, while improving the water quality benefits of treatment practices. With efficient, simplified maintenance, Rain Guardians are a must for any rain garden.

Typical inlet options for BMPs include grass filter strips and rock inlets. These options come with a handful of problems, including being prone to erosion, requiring hours of maintenance, and providing little or no pretreatment. They can also cause water to bypass the system because of their likelihood of clogging with debris. Properly designed dry filter boxes provide a stable inlet to the BMP, pretreat stormwater, as well as drain and dry between rain events. Additionally, maintenance is simplified by capturing sediment and debris in a chamber that requires less than five minutes to clean. It is important to note that a dry filter box is a maintenance tool for a BMP rather than a stand-alone BMP.

Dry filter boxes are positioned near the inlet of the BMP. Stormwater is most commonly directed into the dry filter box via a curb-cut and concrete inlet. Four stages of treatment provide e]ective removal of sediment and debris. First, water passes through a top grate, which captures leaf litter and coarse debris and then enters a main chamber where settling of heavier particles occurs. Even after the BMP fills to capacity, inundating the filter box, the

top debris walls restrict floatable debris (e.g. leaf litter, seeds, garbage) from entering or exiting the BMP. A vertical filter wall contained within the dry filter box provides filtration of the stormwater and allows the chamber to drain and dry between rain events.

The dry filter box is a maintenance tool, while the BMP provides the desired water quality and water quantity benefits. All material captured by the dry filter box is contained in an easy to access location right at the inlet of the BMP. This allows the BMP to function and provide water quality benefits as originally designed.