Westfield Park

• Bioswale

• Lambert Creek

A bioswale is a specially designed vegetated channel with engineered soil mix that captures water runoff, slows it down, and soaks it into the ground to improve water quality. 

This 3,765 square foot bioswale was installed near the ice rink warming house at Westfield Park to capture water runoff from 8.5 acres of hard surfaces from the adjacent neighborhood. The bioswale has the following features:

• Dry creek bed with mixed size rock and field stone boulders to capture trash and debris and slow the rate of water runoff as it enters from a City storm sewer pipe. 
• Rock check dams to further slow down the runoff and allow the water to be filtered by the native plants.
• 2,195 square feet of native plants that provide pollinator habitat and filter the water runoff.

This project was a partnership between the City of Vadnais Heights, Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation Division, and VLAWMO. The City provided funding through local cash match and VLAWMO provided grant funding through VLAWMO's Landscape Level 2 grant program.

This project was the 2nd partnership between the City of Vadnais Heights and VLAWMO to install water quality and stormwater treatment projects in City parks. Westfield Park receives a large volume of water runoff from hard surfaces and directly discharges to Basswood wetland before it reaches Lambert Creek. 

Lambert Creek is currently impaired for E. coli. This project is one way of addressing this bacteria pollution and filtering more stormwater before it reaches the creek. 

The bioswale is estimated to annually capture 626,324 gallons of water runoff, and remove 973 pounds of total suspended solids and 3.7 pounds of total phosphorus.